beauty

Artistic Freedom

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The pictured Mr. and Mrs. Claus are now 33 years old.  Each member of my third grade class painted their own set of this festive couple.  What I remember of that day was that we were hurried to get them done and being rushed through this artistic outlet was frustrating to me.  Some of my classmates adorned Santa with purple eyes and green hair.  We were all proud of our own colorful interpretations of the couple. Apparently after school the teacher caved to her own obsessive compulsiveness, perfectionism, control freaky issues and got a little excessive with touching up these fun characters.  The next day when we were allowed to collect our Mr. and Mrs. Claus I could not find mine.   My name was on the bottom of these, but I just knew they were not what I had painted.  The big give away was the fact that I distinctly remembered painting Santa’s mustache.  There were other details that had disappeared to my own artwork and now all that was left was this imposter couple.  I remember crying out “Mine are gone!!”  One of my classmates picked these up and said well these have your name on them!  My teacher tried to console me and said she didn’t change anything only did a little touch up.  The words “Well you touched the mustache right off his face!” were what I wanted to blurt out.  Out of respect I begrudgingly took the imposter Mr. and Mrs. Claus home and they remain in my Christmas decorations to this day.

So often as adults, teachers, parents, and leaders we do just what my third grade teacher did.  Instead of letting our children learn from mistakes we try to just cover them up, do the work for them, and try to correct issues.  This is impossible as we are far from perfect ourselves.  In my teacher’s effort to beautify Santa and Mrs. Claus she forgot to repaint his mustache.  She couldn’t perfect my work either.

What is awesome about God is that He takes us just as we are.  However flawed we are He loves us.  Other people and things of this world may tell us how and what we need to do to be perfect, but they are flawed themselves.  The only perfection is Jesus Christ.  He is the only one qualified to cover all of the imperfections of our lives.

The thing I love about the artwork of a child is that as they grow you get to see how their skills grow.  Coloring goes from purple scribbles all over the page to coloring between the lines.  If we try to cover up their imperfections we miss out in seeing their growth and development of skills.

God has allowed us to make choices in our lives.  No matter how bad or wrong He can bring about perfection within us through His Son Jesus.

A small broken sinner comes to Jesus with all the imperfections and Jesus covers all those terrible blots and blunders.  As the sinner learns and grows Jesus turns an imperfect life and person into a beautiful piece of art.  As the journey of this life ends, the believer finds themselves at the feet of Jesus. It is then that the  picture of this life is fully complete.    As we learn and grow in our faith we can look back on what we once were and see how God is making a once broken life perfectly beautiful.

Philippians 1:6 “being confident in this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Show me Something Beautiful

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As I waited in a hospital waiting room today to just have a routine preventive care exam I noticed a man making hand gestures to his phone.  As I looked closer he was signing to a lady on his phone.  The angle I had gave me the privilege of viewing them both as they communicated.  It was beautiful.  I was unable to assess who was deaf because they continued in this silent beautiful language.  Not knowing sign language myself I had no idea what they were saying so I felt that my long and frequently looks that direction were less invasive.  Their overcoming of an obstacle and a positive that has come from technology warmed my heart.

My prayer this morning pleaded with God to show me some beauty in this world.  The injustices and oppression of innocence in our world has had me very down lately.  Ultimately I know God is in control of all.  Sometimes I wonder if I am doing everything I can and what God wants me to do to help the hurting and brokenness in our world.  This was a reminder to continue to see human beings as Jesus sees them.  To love at every opportunity.   A reminder that God provides a way to overcome life’s obstacles.

There is such a focus on racism especially in the United States right now.  To me it is greatly instigated by the news media and small hate groups that get big publicity.  When I look at our country I see a huge melting pot of every nationality.  I see more blended families than ever.   I see families adopting children no matter the race or disability.  When I am at work I see nurses of every color holding the hands of patients of all colors.  The medical field has people from every color and nationality working together to provide care of others.  In the everyday life of everyday working people striving to provide for their families there is not a problem of racism.  By the way the people communicating by sign language were a different color of skin than me.  They were beautiful.   Human beings are beautiful no matter the color or disability.  What has made this an ugly world is sin.  The evil in a person’s heart.

We have a choice we can look at others with hate in our heart for any differences or we can look at others with love.  The only true way to fully look at others with love comes from the love of Jesus Christ.  He didn’t hang on the cross and say I am only dying for a certain color of skin, religion, or physical perfection qualities.  No He died for all so that the greatest infliction that we all suffer from, sin, can be wiped away.  So that our eyes, ears, and hearts can be fully opened to the truth.  So that we can truly know what it means to be loved and to show love.

Romans 13:10 “Love does no harm to its neighbor.  Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Romans 5:8  “God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

1 John 4:7-11 “ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another”

I can’t say it better than God’s word.  Allow the love of Jesus to fill your life and ask Him to help you see others the way He does.  You will be amazed at the beauty that surrounds us in the people that surround us.

You are Beautiful “God Don’t Make no Junk”

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On Monday I encountered a woman who had several negative things to say about herself.  When she stated “I am ugly” for the first time another friend of mine was nearby and stated “no you are beautiful”.  My reply was the infamous “God don’t make no junk”  statement to her.  (I did a search trying to find who originally said “God don’t make no junk” and came up with 3,200,000 search results.  The saying has been used in a lot of sermons.) Anyhoo as our encounter continued she continued to sneak in very negative comments about herself and her appearance.  As I found out more about her family I asked her “Does your family love you?” she replied, “Yes”.  I then proceeded to tell her “Well then you HAVE done something right! The media and Hollywood give us women a fake image of what beauty is.”  “Us women don’t get enough credit for what we do and who we are.”  “The fact that your family loves you shows that you are truly a beautiful woman.”  We both started to grow teary eyed at this point because I too fight those negative feelings from time to time.  As I am sure every female on the planet, if being honest, would say they fight them from time to time as well.  Giving her a smile, a hand pat, the fact that I had no further time to go into a biblical sermon I simply finished with “No more negative comments about yourself…you ARE beautiful!”

I am far from being a counselor.  How helpful those few words were I don’t know.  I do feel her struggle.  Outward beauty has been a struggle previously in my life.  At this point it is more of feeling the pressure to be “Superwoman”.  The pressure to work full-time and totally rock as a nurse, to have a perfectly clean house, a perfectly manicured yard, to serve in all capacities at church, to do fun and creative things with my children, to attend every game and performance, plus the burden of wanting to help so many, but not having the resources of time and finances to do everything…the list goes on and on…  Monday I started feeling ill and by Monday night I spiked a fever.  The last two days I was stopped dead in my tracks with no energy to eat or shower. Beauty was far from my thoughts as my hair had a great start in forming dreadlocks if that were a style I chose to pursue. The illness has required me to call off of work and back out of any responsibilities for two and a half days now.  My house is a wreck needless to say.  My family has had to fend for themselves for food.  The only positive that I can muster from feeling crummy is that it does show what all I do accomplish through the day.  When a person is unable to fulfill their normal activities of life it does leave a hole.  My father would often get so doubtful of his ministry as a pastor of a small church.  He would wonder if he was making any sort of difference.  The hole he left when he died is so evident of the difference he made in this world.

We are all beautiful and have a specific purpose that God has planned for us.  Our human nature brings in the negative and doubtful thoughts of our worth.  God reveals our worth if we take the time to listen and to walk with Him.  I love reading Proverbs 31 and pray that God will allow my life to somehow come close to the beauty of “the Proverbs 31 woman”.   “Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”  Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

What is Beauty?

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Reaching my fourth decade now in life I have come to the realization that as women “beauty” and its definition will be thrown at us from every angle our entire life. There is a new thing going around Face Book to post five pictures that make you feel beautiful. There is a stubborn part of me saying “I do not like any pictures of me and I really just don’t want to!” My wedding day I felt beautiful, I felt beautiful when my children were born (even though completely “water logged”), I felt beautiful while breast feeding them in the rocking chair in their bedroom, I feel beautiful with my family, I feel beautiful on a quiet morning reading my Bible and sipping my coffee, I feel beautiful when a patient remembers my name and says “thank you”, I feel beautiful when what I do or say makes someone laugh, I feel beautiful writing, and I feel beautiful taking a quiet walk in the beautiful surroundings of God’s creation. Each time I see a picture of myself I think “ewww is that what I look like?” When I look in the mirror it is not the same as what I see the camera reflecting (cameras must always get my bad side). God created us exactly the way He wanted us. Everything He made is “good” and beautiful. The bible says in Genesis 1:27 “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Growing up I struggled with having a big nose. I definitely still don’t “love” it. It serves its purpose to provide filtered moistened air to my lungs. It sticks out plenty to get sunburned and produce freckles. Just yesterday I wacked the bridge of my nose with my locker at work and saw a few stars. Note to self; “step back from the locker when opening it”. Early on I came to the acceptance that it is the nose God gave me and any other nose would look out of place on my face. As a kid I was a fan of Michael Jackson. He was a handsome guy before any plastic surgery. Quite frankly by the time he died at age fifty he looked like an alien life form from all the plastic surgery. Nothing is ever as beautiful as in its original God created form. A ninety year old woman who has taken care of herself, but allowed the natural aging process to happen is very beautiful.

1 Peter 3:3-4 “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

Wearing fun things and having fun hair is ok, but should not define us. We should not allow the media to define what it is we need to be beautiful. This must be where my “selfie” conviction comes into play. What do I want the world to see? Do I want it to be my physical appearance or the beauty God created within my life and my soul?