Feeling Beautiful

As you may know, I used to have really long hair, then I had really short hair, and now I'm in that awkward season of trying to grow it out a bit.

It's a horrible season.

Combined with tons of I'm-too-young-to-have-gray-hair feelings [no hair dye until after the baby], and maternity clothes that I'd just rather not wear, I was feeling low yesterday.

Then my hubby said those magic words,

"I need a haircut. You want to get haircuts together?!"

We do a lot together, but a couples haircut was a first for us.

I just got a little trim. Enough to look a bit better, a bit more like myself [or how I like to look anyway]. Just enough to feel ok with this time of a changing body and expanding belly and really, really gray hair.

As we walked out, Kyle told me,

"you're always beautiful, but you're even more beautiful when you feel beautiful."

Wow! What words.

Beauty has been on my mind for a long time lately. Beauty, the clothes we wear, our hair, our nails, all of it.

What we wear is important. The Lord delights when we feel beautiful and self-assured.

But He is also quick to tell us that beauty really does not come from outward things at all.

"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." 1 Peter 3:3-4

The Lord cares so much more about our eternal worth and beauty than how we look day-to-day here on earth.

And I for one am jumping for joy at this truth.

We don't always feel beautiful in the earthly sense - a flesh and blood beauty is hard for me to muster up most days.

But eternally, the Lord has a whole heap of clothes for me to put on. They look good on any body, flatter every figure.

They're eternal clothes, fitted just for you.

"She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come." Proverbs 31: 25

I guess I'm curious...

what makes you feel beautiful?

and what makes you feel eternally beautiful?

For me, it's my new trim and the peace knowing that I was made to be so much more than my hair. The Lord has big plans for me in this life and a eternal life of joy waiting on the other side.