Image by Melissa Clayton
“How beautiful you are, my friend, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.* Your teeth* are like a flock of ewes to be shorn, that come up from the washing, All of them big with twins, none of them barren. Like a scarlet strand, your lips, and your mouth—lovely! Like pomegranate* halves, your cheeks behind your veil…”
I know while looking in the mirror this morning I found a list of things that was wrong: my shirt, the shoes, my hair - all wrong. As I was driving into work, I felt defeated at the idea of trying to figure out how to teach a certain topic. As I went to get ready for church on Sunday I changed my outfit three times. As women, we so often see this in our lives, not just that we are indecisive sometimes, but that we aren’t content or we feel defeated with some of the decisions in our lives.
This is the glory of it though: The Lord takes one look at us, and knows every single intricate detail of us. The Lord looks at us and can spell out each and every way we want to be loved. As women, we constantly seek out and find so many things wrong with ourselves. We can nitpick how to fix this, how to do this better, how to change this about ourselves. We have to love ourselves just as he loves us. The Lord sees how beautiful and joyful and radiant you are. He sees the love in your encounters, he sees your love in your beauty, he see your love in your heart, and therein, your freedom.
He recognizes each way to love you. And he recognizes each and every way to show you that even though you can pick out how you are flawed, and how you can pick out what is wrong or how something won’t work. But sisters, we're wrong. Because it can work and will work. You are made in the image and likeness of God. You are made uniquely you, so that you can love those around you. Do you see? You are made in the image and likeness of God so that you can love those around you, specifically in the the way He taught you to love.
Our love comes from our Creator. He has imbedded in us how to love; it is intricate to who we are and it is integrated into our every want and need. It is woven into our DNA and is part of our every action and move. Just like a blanket, we are called to wrap this love around every encounter and around every person we meet. The Lord knows every piece of thread that is used to make up your blanket of love, who are you going to wrap it around next?
