Beauty.
I heard a couple of radio talk show hosts talk the other day
about how we shouldn't tell our little girls that they are beautiful. The premise was that by doing so you would
place emphasis on how they looked and thus begin the torment many (if not most)
women feel to look perfect in every way.
I get it that we do often place too much emphasis on how we look. From a young age little girls focus on
looking beautiful. They begin with play
make-up; sometimes as early as three years old.
Disney princesses are painted on nearly piece of fabric, every coat,
toy, hair brush and bike. The burden to
be ‘special’ is like being in a pressure cooker. It’s set high and the pressure is building. While I agree that too much pressure or
emphasis is placed on beauty at a young age, I would hesitate to not tell my
children that they are ‘beautiful.’ They
are beautiful, and it is rather terrifying to think of just how vulnerable
their beauty could make them. Both
fixate on how their clothing looks, how their hair is done, and both plead with
me regularly to be allowed to wear make-up.
They just turned ten.
I won’t stop telling them that they are beautiful because
they need to know that they are. I can’t
imagine the pain that they would feel in later years if they realized that
other parents told their kids that they were beautiful, but that theirs didn’t. Instead of defining ‘beauty’ as the way a
person looks, I would much rather define it as who a person is. Created in the image of God, beauty is most definitely
not skin deep.
My children are beautiful.
They have survived infant and toddler years that would make any adult
give up on life, completely. They have
fight. My children are beautiful. Their compassion towards anyone who is being
hurt, neglected, or sick is unwavering.
Their willingness to love, despite my shortcomings is generous. My children are beautiful. Their freedom in worship is inspiring to the freest
of spirits. My children are beautiful.
Their bodacious presence at the face of challenge is freeing. My children are beautiful. Their willingness to publically share about
what God has done for them, despite what others may think, is courageous. My children are beautiful, inside and
out.
My children are beautiful.
And I will tell them.
