Letting your beauty shine through

I dreamed big as a young girl.  My best friend and I had our sites set on being fashion designers in New York City.  We sewed some killer skirts for 4-H projects (think pillow case with an elastic band on one end), and I’m pretty sure the judge at the fair convinced me to pursue other alternatives. 


As hard as I tried (and still try today), I can only ever get my look 80% right.  Curly hair and thick eyebrows were my nemesis as a teenager, not to mention that JC Penney’s was the best shopping in my small Iowa town.  Now I can’t justify dolling out the dollars that my fashion taste demands.  J.Crew is bargain shopping for our First Lady, but unfortunately not for me.  And then there’s the time factor.  I used to stop off at the mall every week after work, trolling for sales and keeping tabs on fashion trends. 


Now I have to be feeling especially desperate or dumb to take my brood of three boys under five to the mall.  If I can manage to gather items and make it to the dressing room, the fun barrage of questions surely finishes me off.  “Mommy, why is your tummy all squishy?”  “Mommy, do you have a penis?”  If only Gap had soundproof walls in their dressing rooms!

 

Neither being a big name designer, nor having a closet full of designer clothes were part of God’s plan for me.  But God made me in His image (curly hair, thick eyebrows and all), so I take pride in how I dress and care for myself.  We should each feel good about how we look every day. 


This statement has meant different things during different seasons of my life.  Post twins, my goal was to shower, do my five-minute make-up routine, and throw on a fun scarf to draw attention away from my deformed mid-section.  Somehow life seems busier now than in the baby stage, but keeping my eyebrows plucked and applying a tinted moisturizer with SPF and some serious under eye concealer must happen…seriously, I would not leave my burning house without having first completed these steps!  No matter how busy or how not into fashion you are, take the time to do one extra thing as you get ready today.  Something that will make you feel special and shine from the inside out.  Apply that lipgloss, or put on a pair of earrings.  Take pride in the woman God made you to be!