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.

Don’t Believe Everything You Hear

A young friend of mine shared good and surprising news with me today. For a few months, she’s been heavy-hearted about a major rift between mutual friends, friends who were once close and loved each other dearly. The good news is that the friends are taking steps to reconcile.

The surprising news, my friend said, is that God is using her to bring about the reconciliation. Her own family, she added softly, always called her “The Problem”. Whenever there was a family conflict, they said it was her fault, no matter what anyone else had done. With tears in her eyes, she said, “They call me the problem. But I’m actually the solution.”

At some point, all of us need to learn what my young friend is learning: not to believe everything we’re told about ourselves.

Most of us don’t have to think hard to remember a negative label someone -- parent, teacher, coach, friend -- has given us.

Lazy. Dumb. Procrastinator. Selfish. Uncooperative. Class Clown. Troublemaker. Rebellious. Delinquent. Unwanted. Loner. Loser. Nervous. Shy.

Any of us have probably acted in all of these ways at one time or another, but that doesn’t mean we will be that way forever. If someone else has been so ungracious as to call us that, we mustn't let their words define the way we choose to act now.

Some of us have also been given “positive” labels.

Smart. Pretty. Outgoing. Athlete. Good Worker. Artist. Funny. Energetic.

These labels seem nicer than the ones in the first list, but they can put unwanted pressure on us. They leave some of us feeling we must always be smart, outgoing, pretty or athletic, in order to be worthy of the title... or worthy at all.

The truth is, each of us is an assortment of desirable and not-so-desirable traits. None of us behaves in any particular way all of the time. When we accept that, we give ourselves – and others – room to grow, and we can become the unique and diverse people God planned for us to be.

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart."
--  From God to the Prophet Jeremiah.