"Natural" Beauty

Good Morning, Ladies!

My daughter is getting married this summer and it has been so much fun helping with all the wedding plans.  I love organizing, shopping, decorating, and planning.  Of course, the best part of it all has been being able to spend more time with my daughter. Since she moved out on her own after high school, we haven't had enough time (in my opinion) to do "girly" things together. The wedding has provided a wonderful opportunity for us to reconnect, not only on a mom to daughter level, but also on a woman to woman level as well.    

Last Sunday, my daughter, her best friend (who I also call my daughter), and I headed west on a grand adventure to find a dress for me, the "mother of the bride" or "M.O.B." for short.  It was our excuse to get out of the house, away from the guys, eat lunch and have coffee!  The girls helped me pick out several different dresses to try on.  I went the brave route and tried on styles of dresses I normally never would have tried on. After about the fourth dress, the fourth time of holding my breath, and stuffing it all in, I knew I had found the dress.  I went up front to make an appointment for alterations.  When I was making the appointment, the seamstress reminded me to make sure to bring all the undergarments that I will wear with the dress as well as the shoes I will wear for the wedding to the alterations appointment.  Oh no!  I thought I had it made because I found the dress.  I forgot that I will have to do more searching and planning to find the right undergarments, the shoes, and, of course, all the accessories!  The shoe shopping is the part I dread.  My feet are so wide, they named a four-lane highway after them (I'm kidding!).  But, they are wide and it is hard to find a comfortable shoe.  (I knew I should have ordered the shoes first and then found the dress to go with the shoes).    

After taking a quick break for lunch and re-charging with a cup of coffee, we decided to browse through a cosmetic/beauty store so that my daughter could look at all the myriad of makeup and nail polish options available.  I never knew there were so many nail polish colors to choose from!  We looked at false eyelashes.  Did you know they make false eyelashes with lace in them?  We looked at self-tanners.  We learned the ABC's of BB, CC and DD creams!  I was very glad we didn't have to take a test because I'm not sure I would have passed.  As I was checking all these items out, I realized how silly we women can be at times.  We tend to say we want to "look natural" or we just want to enhance our "natural beauty." We spend a ton of money, time, and effort on doing things to our body that just aren't natural so that we can feel more beautiful.  We end up believing that if we use this cellulite cream or that brand of makeup, we will look just like the beautiful models in the magazines.  How did we ever get to the point of letting the fashion and cosmetic industries dictate what the standard for beautiful really is?  

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with wanting to look nice and being healthy.  We should want to take care of the temples we are given.  However, we should not become so obsessed by our outward appearance that it becomes our main focus.  We should not associate our self-worth or our value with how we think we look or what others think of our outward appearance.  As Christian women, our beauty should come from the light inside of us - the light which is Christ.  Our beauty is the inner joy we have that can't help but radiate throughout our soul and shine through our eyes to others in the world.   This kind of beauty is a natural beauty that will never fade even when our hair turns gray and our bodies start to give out.  Our standard for beautiful can be found in 1 Peter 3:3-4 which says,

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, 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."

Natural beauty is so much deeper than skin level.  It doesn't come from a box, a bottle, a jar, or the clothing in our wardrobe.  The secret to natural beauty is not really a secret.  If you want to find the "fountain of youth" you need to have the "river of life" flowing out of your soul.

Blessings!

Kathleen