AUTHOR: Jenn TITLE: DATE: 8/30/2009 10:34:00 PM ----- BODY:

My Mom, Grandma, Callie, and myself had some girl time after church today. Grandma had some clothing to donate to Goodwill so we all tagged along. Boy, was it a good thing we did! In addition to some quality family time,  we found some adorable outfits for Callie! I just had to show off some of the dresses. Aren't they cute????

 

 

....change of subject....



My cousin Ashley's little girl Emmy is a beautifully outgoing, brutally honest two and a half year old. I'm not completely clear on the entire story so I am going to paraphrase it the best I can. Emmy was spending the night at her Debi's house. Debi is my aunt and Emmy's grandma whom she refuses to call anything BUT Debi. So Emmy is apparently jumping on Debi's bed, sees her reflection in the mirror, and very enthusiastically proclaims..." Look how beautiful I am!" :)  How is that for self esteem?  Doesn't a little part of you wish that you could do that? How many of us look in the mirror and with every conviction in our body announce how beautiful we are? I would be willing to bet not many of us.  I believe most of us would be thought of as arrogant or crazy if we did something like that.  This is certainly something that I do not practice. I still haven't lost my pregnancy weight and avoid mirrors at all cost.  It is a constant struggle for me to accept what I know to be true on the subject of beauty and self worth, and to not give in to the negative way of thinking that usually clouds my mind. We are masterpieces though. We are handcrafted, and meticulously created by a God that sees us as royalty.  There is not one pound, or stretch mark, or what I see as a flaw in myself that my Lord doesn't call beautiful. He loves me just as I am, and He loves YOU exactly how you at this very moment. There is no need to put on makeup or fix your hair or buy the cutest outfit....and I realize that most of us don't see ourselves as that shallow but the words out of our mouths , and our actions reflect our hearts. Every time we put ourselves down, dismiss a compliment from our spouse because we don't feel like we deserve it, go on some radical diet just so that we can fit into our pre-pregnancy jeans, or  look in the mirror and cry because we don't look the way we did when we were twenty are all forms of being shallow. It is just another side of it.  It is like telling God that He did't do a good enough job. That He messed up in some way. Our God doesn't make mistakes. I rarely think about it in that way, but it is the truth. The last few weeks that has really started to hit home with me. I am so hard on myself, and realize that I struggle with allowing myself to be loved. My prayer is that my focus will change from daily beating myself up about becoming a better person to daily simply accepting God's love for the beauty that He created in me. I want to look into the mirror and with every conviction in my body exclaim "Look how beautiful I am!"


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