The mirror was sitting on the ground waiting to be packed, so as you walked by everyday, you could not help but notice a glimpse of yourself. She passes by it everyday but for some reason today she stopped and paused; then said "Mom do you think I am beautiful?
I wanted to shout as loud as I could, "Are you kidding? Your gorgeous, magnificent, a heart stopper, a rare beauty sweetheart." But I didn't scream out loud, I just paused and thought, what had her eyes seen today that would even cause her to ask that question. How had the input from her vision into her subconscious been derailed causing her to believe she was anything less then beautiful? How does that mirror one day tell us we are beautiful and the other days tell us we are less?
How could my response reflect the truth, that what we think we see is not always true? The reflection may seem to clarify our suspicions but it is not always a true picture of who we are. How could I orchestrate a response so well spoken that it would teach her to pull from the depth of inner beauty that the world sometimes can not define?
Her only experience with beauty has been limited to social judgement, social media and social stigma. How is she to know the true definition of beauty when her quirky brain that inputs social cuing is already so limited?
I slowly tread on thin ice. "Sky why would you ask me that, when you have heard so many people tell you how beautiful you are?" "Is there something or someone that has led you to believe you are anything less than beautiful?"
I think quickly to the list of people I consider truly beautiful and none of them would be on the front of "O" magazine but all of them exemplify boundless beauty beyond the simple minds definition.
"Skyler what matters most to mommy when I look at the precious face God gave you, is a heart that serves others first, that loves radically and cares deeply for her family and friends. A beautiful women draws from inner strengths rather then dwells on the feedback from external sources. I am your mother and will always think your beautiful but more importantly, do you think your beautiful and do you know that you are fearfully and wonderfully made?" (Proverbs 139:14)
