"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.
Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.”
--1 Peter 3:3&4
CJ decided to dress (and dress up) RJ2 this morning. It's one of those days that's looking like rain, which would put the girls inside for the day. So, why not have some fun early?!
When RJ2 came to the breakfast table, via scooter--of course--she made quite an entrance.
CJ was quite pleased. A tri-pony do with multiple layers of clips and colorful bands--woo, girl!!
It's funny how, as girls, we latch on to this notion that we need to dress ourselves up. But, we grow into that mode so easily, with dolls to dress and groom, fancy shoes and purses for special occasions, watching mom put on makeup. All that is the stuff of pure girly innocence! But there is a plethora of other enticing examples in this world in which beauty has been turned inside out, stretched and formed, fashioned and molded (and I'm speaking literally, in some cases!), modeled and flaunted.
* * *
A friend shared that a friend of hers recently took some hits for saying that her daughter enjoyed an afternoon of play with fairies, because fairies aren't the stuff to which young would-be Christian girls should be exposed.
(Whoa!)
What happens if we don't let our girls play and imagine, develop their voices, learn to speak to others, use their brains to create?
What happens if we don't let our girls play with their sister's hair, learn to share, to patiently sit for their ponies, to love on one another?
What happens if we don't teach our girls about true beauty and let "the Beast" that is the world and its marketing enterprise distort what is so simply and perfectly laid before them and within them?
The inner beauty of a gentle, quiet spirit is not formed on one Saturday morning in the "hair salon" or in one afternoon in the fairy village.
And God can use both these experiences--and many more to come--in developing the beauty he created and continually sees in His children.
Comments
Who knows, CJ may grow up to be a hairdresser for the Lord, just like in our Biblestudy. :-)
If Jesus is our King, aren't we His princesses? What is wrong with innocent pretend play?! I was playing some classical music during playtime yesterday, and one of my little girls was twirling around saying she was a ballerina and a princess. I was thinking, "You go girl!"