you're beautiful, *every* little piece, love.

I often times have days in which I look in the mirror, and all I see are flaws. When I find myself listing all of the things I'd like to fix...

"I wish my face was thinner."

"Why can't my hair just be one distinct color?"

"My hips are so wide."

"How'd I get stuck with the hourglass figure??"

"Maybe I should dye my hair."

"I need to lose weight."

"Why do I have to be so curvy?"

"Why can't I look more like her?"

"How can I make myself prettier??"

I get myself to the point where I can hardly look in the mirror, where I so desperately

want to fit that image of the picture perfect girl who struts around in a bikini,

her perfect hair, looking, well, perfect, and her flawless face glowing in perfection...

(redundant, I know. And yes, I know bikinis aren't the most modest option; I'm making a point

though!)

But today, when I was having a brief moment of one on one mirror time,

I was reminded of this quote I'd heard recently:

"I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature

that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God's thought,

and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest, and most precious thing in all thinking."

~George MacDonald~

When I'd first heard that, I was thinking of it in terms of who I am and will be as a person,

in the direction my life is headed...but today was the first time it struck me in a physical sense...

I actually had a moment when I thought to myself, "How dare I call myself anything other than

beautiful?" That's like insulting one of God's greatest masterpieces: us. You. Me.

We are His greatest work. We are each of us different in so many ways, yet the same in this:

we have a Creator who knit us together, who blended all of the details of our very selves

together to create something He sees as beautiful. Something He thought over, planned out,

put His time and effort into.

Can you imagine?

The God of the universe taking time to create you? Me? I cannot fathom it.

But I do know that this realization that He is the one who made me who I am,

who carefully thought out each detail about me, who always had my image in His mind, has me

seeing myself in a different light. Instead of seeing the worldly perfection I lack, I see other things:

I see my deep blue eyes that have little specks of sea foam green thrown in.

I see hair that's a toss up between brown and blonde, that shines like gold in the sunlight.

I see my somewhat lopsided smile, and curves that say "Hey! I'm a woman now!"

And I've got life, magnificent life, flowing through my veins...air that He breathed into my lungs...

and that is the most beautiful attribute I have. That I was crafted carefully, delicately,

beautifully by Him, for Him.

What a marvelous thought.