On Beauty

Krista's post on Ordinary Beauty has had me thinking for a while now.
The thoughts are percolating in my head.  :)

And then the other day I had an interesting conversation with my 2 year old sister, as I fixed her hair for her:

Me: "That's a very nice face you have"
Little Sister: "God gave it to me"

Other than the immediate "awww" reaction, I immediately was touched at her simplicity.  Her absolute trust in God.  He did give her her face.  And why would He ever give her anything not nice?  He loves her!

I once heard someone say that when we complain about our own appearance we are saying to God: "I don't like your gift.  Take it back."

As a young girl I struggled greatly with my appearance.  I hated my freckles.  Hated my boring eye color.  Hated my half curly/half straight hair.  Hated my crooked teeth.  I never once looked in the mirror and thanked God for giving me a face at all.

There's really nothing wrong with my face.  It's perfectly functional.  And God made it just for me.  No one else has it.

I guess I haven't completely overcome my vanity.  (That's what it is, really.  I'm not vain in the sense that I think I'm beautiful, rather my vanity comes in the form of being too vain to show my face without first taking a good long look in the mirror and doing what I can to make myself look better.)

Like, I said :) I haven't overcome vanity.  But, I resolve to look in the mirror everyday and thank the Lord for designing my face.  Just for me.