UGLY CONFESSIONS

UGLY CONFESSIONS

Today was another one of those days- you know, an ugly day.

An ugly day generally begins with a sense my clothes don’t fit the way they should. From there it moves to the way my teeth are just a little off center or my hair is too gray, too stringy, or too outdated.

Unfortunately, I feel myself to be not enough or too much of something on a pretty regular basis. This isn’t actual truth, but my feelings lie pretty well.

I am reminded of the beauty I am when I am not looking at me.

Ever so often, I will encounter a view that does something to my heart- a curving stream, an ominous mountain range, or my son racing across the football field. When I see these things, I can’t help but feel a strange mix of awe and completeness.

The Romantics waxed poetic about the power of nature. Although I often found the topic tiresome in my literature courses, I can’t deny nature’s ability to move me. There is a sense of how magnificent God is. It is mind boggling to think we are created in his image. We are made in the image of the one who made it all. This thought captures me and takes my breathe away.

I am part of the masterpiece of creation, and I am a reflection of the creator.

I am breathtaking.

Your jeans might be a little tight, you may have some strands of gray, and your left nostril might be a millimeter smaller than the right, but you are -in every way- breathtaking.

You are shaped in the image of the one who stamped himself in the foundations of the earth. God looks at creation and says “it is good”….. I’ll take his word for it.