Look How Pretty I Am Today

Last night, after eating dinner, my pastor, his family, three of my friends, and I walked outside together to look at a bird's nest and fix the broken swing set on the church's property. My pastor's younger daughter turned to me as we were walking outside and said to me, "Look how pretty I am today!". I began to respond with something like, "You are very pretty today," but before I could respond, she skipped away suddenly.

I smiled, but the implications of what she was asking me to do was painful. Not that a little girl shouldn't ask someone if she's pretty. But the fact that this little girl was asking me to prove to her that she is validated. She was asking me to remind her that she is lovely and beautiful and captivating. And, because I know her parents and I believe her father does answer her question (see Captivating), I think this little girl was mainly affirming to herself what she has been taught subconsciously since she was born - that she is beautiful and worth it. She knows she is lovely and she was simply telling me. She didn't wait for my response, but she ran up ahead of me to see the nest. Since she already knew someone believed in her, she had the courage to go for it.

This random little event makes me think of the women who have never been told they are beautiful, never been fought for, never been loved passionately, either romantically or otherwise. And my heart breaks for them. How many little girls, unlike my pastor's daughter, were never told they are lovely? How many twirled in little ballerina skirts in front of their dads, only to be told to go away or to please put on their pajamas (for the 16th time)? How many asked, "Don't I look beautiful?" to physically or emotionally absent parents who answered the question with a silent 'no'? How many asked, "Can't you see how lovely I am?' to abusive parents who answered with a resounding 'NO'?

But, you know what really hurts? That fact that thousands and millions of those little girls are now grown women, women living and working around us. Women are are us, women who are your sisters and friends and mothers and girlfriends. And they are hurting. My prayer and desire and work is that these hurting women would find God as the answer to their questions. That they would learn that God can answer the desire they have to be beautiful and lovely and captivating. Because he can.

Ask God to show you your worth and beauty. Ask God to show the women in your life their worth and beauty. And wake up in the morning with a smile, because God's beaming down, saying, "Look how pretty you are today, my daughter."