Beautiful Because

I received a grand old quilt at Christmastime. My grandmother made it. My aunt had it. When she downsized, my mom accepted it... and passed it on to me.

In the nearly 30 years since Grandma died, this is the second of her quilts that has become mine.

The first has had an honored place in my home for years, but it hasn't impacted me as this one has.

The first quilt looks like most of Grandma's projects -- carefully-planned, delicately-sewn.
But this quilt has a totally different story.

It was created from upholstery samples -- rough, scratchy and heavy. Grandma didn’t attach a backing to this quilt. The pieces are in earth-toned shades, some solid, some prints, and she cut them into different sizes and shapes. Then, it appears, she sewed them together into a random, wherever-they-fit design.

By the standards of today’s quilters, this quilt could never be pretty.

But I still find it beautiful, because it was Grandma’s, and even more so because she made it. 

In the weeks I've seen this quilt lying on my bed, it keeps reminding me that you and I are like it.

We may (or may not) be pretty as this world defines prettiness, but in a way that matters, and in the way that lasts, we will always be beautiful.

Regardless of our size, body-shape, skin-tone and even of our character, we are beautiful because God made us.

Long ago, He planned us. He designed our bodies, your personalities. He chose our family, our culture, our ethnicity.

Then, from the moment of our conception, He's watched over us, regardless of whether we're pretty, or kind or smart or charming.

He watches over us because He loves us. And because He loves us, we are beautiful.

This world’s definitions of beauty change with every season. The attractiveness we have in our youth will fade almost as quickly.

But, in God’s eyes, our beauty will never fade. No matter how we look, no matter how we act, no matter what we achieve...or don't.

He will always love us.

Therefore, we will always be beautiful.

 **Thanks to Jamie Langston Turner for putting my thoughts into words in her novel Sometimes a Light Surprises.