Beautiful- A 5 Minute Friday Post

(This post is part of 5-Minute Fridays...a space where Lisa-Jo Baker offers a prompt and hundreds of lovely ladies write for 5 minutes about that word(s). Here goes!)


Beautiful...

I stare into the deep blue eyes  of my oldest daughter and smile as I watch her ponytail bounce...Beautiful.

The long eyelashes that frame serious blue eyes on my four year old...Beautiful.

The new baby, blue eyes too, soft, sweet chubby hands grabbing my shirt, holding close...Beautiful.

I am surrounded by beauty. Blessed by it. I stare at these girls and find myself amazed at how much bigger and more beautiful they become to me each and every day.

And while I am deeply moved by their beauty, I know there will come a time when they will start listening to the cultural voices that tell them their beauty should be something different-- that they should be something other than the beautiful girls they already are.

Voices that tell them that beauty means wearing a small bikini, or short shorts. Voices that tell them that beauty means their body should be thinner or taller or tanner or smaller...Voices that makes them believe the lie that they are inadequate instead of  the truth that they are beautiful and fully loved.

I anticipate those days with trepidation and begin to consider now the many ways I can remind them they are "beautifully and wonderfully made" just the way they are. I tell them as often as I can and remind them that their friends and classmates are beautiful as well...

That we're all like snowflakes...unique
                                                    ...mysterious
                                                            ...delicate.
                                                                   ..beautiful.

Every. Last. One.