“Mom, look at my nose. It’s kind of wide isn’t it? I wish my nose was a little smaller than this. See! And look at my eyebrows, they are so bushy. I wish they weren’t so bushy.....blah, blah, blah”
This was the conversation my daughter was “indirectly” having with me during a recent car ride. She was on the passenger side and was looking in the mirror making these observations.
Eventually, all of her self-criticism got on my nerves and after listening for entirely too long, my response was, “Wow Mali, God must not be as perfect as I believe Him to be.” Hmmm…that got her attention! I continued, “He must not be perfect because with all of your complaints, He obviously made a lot of mistakes when He created you.”
Her response,” No, God doesn’t make mistakes.”
“Exactly my point!”
It really bothered me that at 12 years old my daughter could find so much about herself that she didn’t like. However, I can understand because even at 40 years old, I have self-image issues and have had them for years. I felt bad because I have always encouraged her to love and embrace everything about herself. However, I am concerned that she has learned the art of finding fault with herself from me.
We, women, can always find something wrong with us. Too fat, too skinny, skin to light or skin to dark. Thin hair, curly hair, big nose, little nose, the list goes on and on.
However, God doesn’t make mistakes. He made us to be exactly as He intended us to be! In our eyes, we may not be perfect but in God’s eyes, we are. Why is it so hard for us to accept this?
“Mali, did you know that in the bible it says that you are fearfully and wonderfully made?” It even says that all of His works are marvelous. Do you know what that means?” I asked my daughter.
Her response was, “No.”
I further explained that nothing about her could be a mistake because SHE was one of God’s marvelous creations. If she didn’t believe that, then she must believe that God wasn’t perfect and that everything that she believes about Him must be a lie.
The light bulb must have gone on because a smile came across her face.
Her response again (with the biggest smile) was, “You are right, God doesn’t make mistakes.”
I think she got the message....and I hope that you do too.
Dove is doing a wonderful job to raise the self-esteem in our young girls and it is called, “Campaign for Real Beauty”. Please take a moment to check it out. http://www.dove.us/#/cfrb/
Be blessed Sisters!
Sasha
I will be back on Monday, November 15th, hope to see you then!
Tuesday's Blog: Maria Guzman is back with her new blog, "Balancing Life plus College"
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