A Letter to my Daughters: 5 Things to Value over Beauty

Daughters,

You are amazing and gorgeous.  You already are.  It doesn't matter what you do, or what you become.  It doesn't matter if you are a size 2, or  size 16.  It doesn't matter how tall you are, or how short you are.  The color of your hair doesn't matter and neither does whether or not you choose to wear makeup.   None of that really matters.  Of course, I realize that this letter is falling on half deaf ears because society is going to tell you otherwise.

Society is going to hammer it into your beautiful impressionable brains that somehow beauty = worthiness.  (Hint: it doesn't.)

You are going to hear a lot of garbage about what you should look like.  From commercials, and ads to peer pressure, and even well meaning friends.  Everyone will tell you what to look like, how to act and how to dress.

 I am here to remind you of one thing.  What you look like is NOTHING compared to who you actually are.   Nothing.  

So, while you are being bombarded with society's view on what is important here is a little reminder.  Five things that, I believe, matter so much more than beauty does.

1.  Compassion

I hope that you are each compassionate.  I hope that you have the ability to love other people.  To put yourselves in their shoes,  and relate to them.   I hope that you not only have the ability to put others needs in front of your own, but also I hope that you can have compassion for yourself.

2. Generosity

I hope that no matter what God gives to you, you will remember that living open-handed is so important.  Share when you can.  Give often of your time, and of your talents, and of whatever else you might have.

3. Acceptance

I hope that you live from a place of acceptance.  Acceptance of who you are inside and out.  Acceptance of your skills, and your shortcomings.    Acceptance of other people, and their strengths even when they are greater than your own.  

4.  Passionate

I hope that you are passionate about something.  I don't care if it is reading, writing, books, dancing, drama, sports, or anything else!  I just hope that whatever you love, you do it!  And I hope you live what you love passionately.

5. Faithful

I hope you have an abundance of faith.  Faith in the grace that we have been given. I hope that you can live your lives out of that faith.  Because my darling daughters, you were created in His image.  You are forgiven, and you are saved.  And when you start to understand the incredible gift that is, and how much you are already loved you can then live out of that grace filled love.  

Love,
Mom

The Words are There

I am a writer at heart.  Being a writer doesn't mean I have perfect grammar. (I don't!) It doesn't mean I write better than anyone else, or that I am more capable of writing than you are.  It just means that I love to write.  My head is always full of thoughts, and ideas.  Sparks that jump around and latch on to each other creating scenes, and descriptions.  Oftentimes I am dreaming up a scene for whatever novel I happen to be writing as I fall asleep at night.  Definitely a dangerous habit if I don't write down what I am thinking because I almost always forget by the time I wake up in the morning!

Being a writer to me means that I love to write.  It means writing is a part of who I am.  A part of what I do.   When I have not written a blog I am working on a novel, and  I am working in my prayer journal, and I am writing for work.   It isn't that I haven't been writing.  In the land of blogdom, however I have posted....nothing.  (Insert cricket sound here.  Perhaps some sad sounding violins!)

 Lately, I have felt such pressure to write only when it means something.  I should write only when I have something useful or impressive to say.   When something incredible happens I want to blog about it.  When God prompts me to put something out there I want to blog it.  Sadly, those are not things that happen everyday.  But here is the thing about being a writer, the words come out even when they don't mean anything to anyone else.

Days like today I have to write something, even if that means making an excuse to write.  Even if that means no one else will ever read it.   Even if I don't have anything spectacular to say because the words are there, and I need to create something with them.

I don't know what you love to do, but here is my encouragement for you today.  Go do it.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  It doesn't even have to be good.  Just do it because you love to do it.