Love Letters: Wonderfully Made

found this awesome print on etsy here

When I thought about my first official "Love Letters" post, I knew I wanted to elaborate on my first rambling session, but wasn't sure where to start or how to further explain myself.  Then as the week went on I stumbled upon a couple of perfect images that gave me a little inspiration.

This is the thing, we all know that a lot of girls have self esteem issues, and the world has unfair standards, and those pictures we all compare ourselves to are photoshopped, and yada yada.  Pretty much all my life I was definitely wrapped up in all that, basically basing my entire worth on looks alone.  One of my mom's favorite stories is from when I was 4 years old and started crying on the way home from church because "no one told me I was pretty".  True story...and so funny.

When I got pregnant it was like my eyes were open in a whole new way.  I felt amazing and strong, blessed, proud, and totally in awe of what our bodies are capable of.  It was like I finally recognized and understood what a miracle life really is.  Psalms 139:14 really sunk in...we all start as these little miracles in our mom's bellies, made wonderfully by God himself. And it's such a tragedy that most of us never see it that way.  Our eyes, nose, mouth, hair, legs, everything were created on purpose by the one that loves us most.  How could we ever hate something about ourselves if we know that?

one of our favorite books





Now, obviously I'm no Mother Theresa over here.  I still find myself nitpicking the smallest things, and sometimes wishing that what I see in the mirror more closely resembled what I see in a Victoria's Secret catalog, but I'm now able to stop myself from going down that mental path, and accept myself for who I am...and not expect myself to be what or who someone else is.  Which is a huge step forward from where I used to be.

 

Having gone through this, and realizing now how silly it was, and seeing how many years were wasted chasing the wrong kind of perfection, all I can hope and pray is that I can lead my beautiful little daughter down a different path. 

 

A friend of mine pinned this quote on pinterest, and it's so perfect. 

 

 

Kind of a cheesy picture, but still so perfect.  This is what I want.  I mean, ideally I would love to teach our kids to see themselves from God's eyes, in all the glory and perfection that He sees them in.  But, realistically I just hope that I can instill an understanding in them that they were made exactly the way they were on purpose.  That they are their very own version of perfection.  And, meanwhile, somehow, build their self-esteem so high that the world can't ever tear them down.

 

That's where it gets a little tricky for me.  How do I build them up without making them cocky?  Or compliment them so they are confident in their beauty, but not consumed by it?  Or teach them to be sure of themselves but maintain a sense of humility?

 

I can't answer those questions now, but I have faith we'll figure it out along the way.  Our baby L is just too precious not to.

 

- K