Julia and I are exploring the meaning of Beauty, intersecting Beauty with the word of God, and letting Beauty live in our lives. Inspired by a joint feeling of just not measuring up in the beauty category, we’re tackling some hard questions:

• What is Beauty? And does it reside in me?
• And when my husband says that I’m beautiful, how can I receive those words as truth in a culture that says the opposite?
• What am I going to teach my daughters about Beauty?
• And most importantly, what does the Word of God say about Beauty?

Join us as we converse about a topic that touches the heart of all women.
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Dear Melissa,

This week I read this post from Kendra at Miracle of the Moment. She talks about what it means and what it would look like for her family to “be okay”, and here’s some of what she came up with:

• to see her children grow well into adulthood
• for her marriage to thrive
• for her children’s marriages to thrive
• for her children to be good spouses and parents
• for her children to love Jesus
• good health
• to have enough money

So, this morning, as I remembered it was Friday. I thought about Kendra’s post in terms of beauty.

If you took the time to pop over and read it, which I would encourage everyone to do, she vulnerably admits that worrying about all of that, when none of it is promised to us, denotes a lack of faith in God’s perfect plan for her family.

When I found out I was having two girls, I worried. I worried I would fail to teach them to have a healthy body image. That I wouldn’t be able to strike the perfect balance between inner and outer beauty, and somehow mess them up. I feared that one day, they would be on some talk show host’s couch spilling their guts about all the things I missed the mark on, and how they will forever be scarred.

Silly, really, but there it is. I tend to “catastrophize” my life. I tend to forget that God’s got my back, and he’ll help me figure it out–this whole parenting girls things.

So, I guess I have list too. Things I want my daughters to know about beauty:

• Jesus knit them together; they are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:13-14)
• The very image of God lies within them.
• The same amount of God is in everyone.
• Beauty isn’t just about appearance.
• Living to glorify God is more important than what you look like.
• Surrounding yourself with positive images, words and music is important.
• You are beautiful just the way you are.
• It is good to know how to groom and care for your body in a healthy, modest way.

What have I missed?

What have we missed through this series? Love to hear your thoughts.