Joining with Lisa-Jo on her (slightly longer than) Five Minute Friday for: Beauty.
Is beauty really in the eye of the beholder?
On a bad hair day, when my curls won’t stay, when the make-up no longer glides smoothly on less-than-firm eyelids, when the skin does not glow like it used to, she looks at me while I try to work magic in front of the mirror feeling less than successful, and she exclaims with admiration I cannot understand:
You are so beautiful!
She observes me, she imitates me, she marvels at me. She wants to look like me, smell like me, dress like me. She asks to borrow my perfume, my jewelry, my shoes.
I am the princess in her fairy tales, Beauty and Cinderella, the belle of her ball.
And I believe her.
In her eyes I’m beautiful. She doesn’t know about perfect weight, perfect features, perfect hair. She loves me and her love transforms me into the lovely creature she thinks I am.
And she has changed me.
I no longer complain about my hair.
She is listening.
I no longer fuss about my weight.
She is watching.
I no longer berate my features.
I want to teach her the One who made us both makes no mistakes.
I know this awe I inspire in her won’t last forever. She is only five. But for now, I don’t have to look in the mirror to see beauty reflected back at me.
I just look into her eyes.
11 comments:
such a beautiful example you are setting for such a beautiful young lady! Blessings abundant to you and yours.
just so you know, you are beautiful. inside and out. all the time.
Oh so wonderful and so powerful - that's the truest reflection of beauty, isn't it? And the reason suddenly I find myself thinking about beauty I never did before I had a daughter. Thanks so much for sharing!
~Lisa-Jo
AHH! Totally brought tears to my eyes. I love that you are so conscious of how what you say will affect how she thinks of herself later as well.
This is gorgeous. Something about knowing that my children are listening to how I talk about myself always seems to keep me a little more in check.
Those are some beautiful eyes that are watching you!
Oh, that we would all view ourselves with the eyes of a child.
Gaby, this is a wonderful message, one that I should listen to with attention. I tend to be very hard on myself.
How beautiful, Gaby! And your words are so true. I feel convicted--there are enough negative messages in this world regarding true beauty. I don't need to add to those messages for my daughters and son.
Gaby,
I loved this post, and I connected with your words here. We don't complain because we know their awe will come to an end much too soon.
Love your voice, girl.
Gaby, this post is so refreshing and beautiful I just wrote about a similar revelation here:
http://pinkdryerlint.blogspot.com/2011/06/why-i-never-criticize-my-appearace.html
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