Especially Me

When I worked at camp this summer the Lord taught me a lot of really cool things and ironically enough it was usually through the conversations I had with my campers.

One such instance of this was when I was talking to an 8^th grade girl about what beautiful really is. We talked about the way that the world defines it and the way that God defines it and the way that we define it for ourselves.

As we sat there with our bibles opened to Proverbs 31, she asked me what I thought made a girl beautiful. Tough question right? And if you have ever been any kind of counselor before you know that there are these precious yet terrifying moments when you have absolutely no idea what to say but somehow when you are obedient to just open your mouth and speak the Lord is faithful to give you the right answer. And this was one of those times.

It was a simple answer: God made you and He made you beautiful. He doesn’t make mistakes. And we are most beautiful when we are serving Him.

And I’ll never forget the huge grin on her face (I know- cheesy line but so true!). She looked at me and said, “Then how dare anyone say I’m not beautiful, especially me!”

Wow. Insightful 8^th grader right?

The funny part about the story is that I was sitting here with this girl, Indian style on the porch of the dining hall with my hair still drying out from spontaneously jumping in the lake after losing a bet with a camper, absolutely zero make-up on, and an old t-shirt and shorts. Beautiful was the last thing I would have called myself in that moment.

But she was so right.

How dare anyone say you aren’t beautiful? Especially you.

                                                                                                                          

*Another counselor shared this poem with us:

If I was Noah Webster

I would have had the blind write the definition for

Beautiful

Because if the masters of Braille

Were entrusted with the duty

Of labeling beauty

Maybe our world would look a little different

Maybe I

Would look a little different.

So if Beauty resides in the eye

Of the beholder

We all need corrective lenses.

Because we’re all pupils

Of what others say is beautiful

But I’m tired of learning;

And I’m finally done searching

Because I found Beauty

On the corner of Lies & Loneliness

Prostituting her character

But only growing in bitterness

She’s best friends with

Backstabbing Bulimia

And Beauty intimately knows Insecurity

She has permanent ties to

Too skinny

Too wide

Too outgoing

Too shy

Too much

Not enough

Don’t be tender

Just be tough

So

Beauty set sail on the pursuit of perfection

Moved along by the winds of what she wished she looked like

With make-up in her right hand

And a curling iron in the other

But those things made poor paddles

When flawless features eventually failed

And her boat began to sink,

Leaving her

Shipwrecked on shore

Forcing her to face

Who she was before

She gave lies a voice.

Before Expectations

Told her she didn’t have a choice

But things are never clear

When Beauty stands in front of the mirror

But Truth has 20/20 vision

And when asked

“What makes a girl beautiful?”

His reply surpasses the clique answers of confidence

And instead dives deeper than the three layers of skin

Beauty’s made her home in.

He says,

Beautiful is when

You can set her soul next to a sunset

And see that Jesus painted both.

Beautiful is when

She wears her mistakes

But doesn’t live in them

Because she

Intimately know the God of grace

Beautiful is when

She see her scars as stories worth telling

And she uses her healing as a way of helping

And when

Wrinkles cover her face

Because a lifetime of laughter and joy

Has put happiness in its proper place.

And beautiful is when

A woman of the Lord

Carries her cross daily

And knows that the One who gave Himself up for her

Loves her greatly

Because

Charm is deceptive

And beauty is fleeting

But a woman who fears the Lord

Is one worth keeping

- SARAH WYCKOFF