I've been thinking a lot about Cinderella lately. Not the Disney version, but the Groovy Tuesday version. Our Cinderella has always struggled with her body image, and now her body is doing things that amaze her. Her beauty secret? --- She took the eyes off herself and turned them outward to help others. In doing so, she is gaining the reward of health and beauty that is far beyond what the beauty magazines can offer. To be more precise, Cinderella is in training for a 65 mile bike ride for breast cancer. Yikes! Prior to this, she might have peddled herself around the block and called it a day. And now, we will be cheering her on as she peddles to a much bigger finish.
Beauty. I think a lot of women struggle with beauty, even if they are already physically quite attractive. So what is it? One of the dictionary definitions is "a pleasing quality associated with harmony of form or color, excellence of craftsmanship, truthfulness, originality, or other, often unspecifiable property." Whoa! Truthfulness? Originality? Unspecificable property? Sounds to me like beauty goes way beyond the plastic surgeon standard.
Ginger Garrett has written a book entitled Beauty Secrets of the Bible, the Ancient Arts of Beauty & Fragrance (www.gingergarrett.com) While she offers all kinds of beauty tips that are natural, organic and enduring, her real focus is on a woman's inner beauty and how she perceives herself. One of the times in my life when I felt extremely beautiful was during the birth of my son. Oh, it wasn't a pretty sight visually, but the excellent craftsmanship and uniqueness of my son made me feel like the most beautiful mother in the world.
Oh sure, I use anti-aging products, exercise and even comb my hair once in awhile because it's my vanity in the world. Ginger Garrett has another take on that. Her words:
You are a miracle of stunning design...formed in the dark quiet place of an unseen womb, created to display the grace of God to (the) world. You are a memorial to the God of love. Your ...beauty is an invitation for others to know and be known.
Ginger goes on to sing the praises of truthful beauty. Her words:
The first beauty secret of the Bible is that it's not only okay to believe yourself to be beautiful, but that belief..is actually a part of your spiritual life...Beauty is an expression of spiritual creativity. Beauty originates with God...The world believes beauty is an external varnish and a temporary condition. But in reality...beauty is not about what we're presenting---a finished product to be judged---but what we're expressing....We are women who are deeply loved and beautiful by His touch....God calls us to recognize the sacred in a world of pollution. Sacred means set apart, not for common use...The world's standards are not relevant.
Amen to that, sister! So to all the Cinderellas out there I say, embrace your uniqueness, take good care of your excellent craftsmanship, and love your beautiful selves. It's a special gift from your Maker.
And as for our own bike-peddling Cinderella --- you go girl!!!
2 comments:
And to carry beauty one step further... I think that having a way with words is a form of beauty. Our Casey can paint a word picture so well that anyone can catch her vision and get excited.
Casey, thanks for creating our blog spot and having patience with the rest of us who are just getting the hang of adding our 2 cents.
I have thoroughly enjoyed your entries and know that soon all 8 of us will start chiming in with you on a regular basis.
Wow, I've never been featured on a blog before. How cool is that? I'm sure excited about the Cinderella ride on April 4th. I'd like to mention that if anyone wants to sponsor me per mile, I'd be thrilled. Just to clarify, the ride isn't just for breast cancer but lots of charities. It's put on by the Valley Spokesman as their annual fund raiser and much of the money goes to charity. The money I raise is separate from that. The money per mile raised will go to KW Cares. KW Cares helps raise money to help people in need in our local area. Anyone want to sponsor me? The other awesome thing is this. I also started this training to work through my fear. In fact, I gave up fear for Lent. I was absolutely petrified to ride a bike on the road. Well, last week I rode a total of 90 miles on the road and I finally had a blast. It took 7 weeks but who cares. On Good Friday, I realized, I'm not afraid anymore. God really works through us when we let him! I am so thankful!
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