BEAUTY IN THE BUGS

My daughter is a lover of all things living. Sierra has taken care of everything from baby bunnies to wounded birds. We have had a variety of animals in our house, a.k.a. makeshift hospital. In fact, when she used to help us clean the church, she spent a lot of that time helping insects escape. She didn’t care whether they were spiders, beetles, grasshoppers, or butterflies. Their type made no difference to her. In fact, she made “bug catchers” for to keep in the kitchen and sanctuary and asked us to follow her example. Benny and I try to. We shoot her a picture sometimes letting a big beetle out or a spider that got inside the church.

Currently, we are in a season of moth invasions. When we open the door to the church, they fly out like bats exiting a cave. While cleaning up all the moths that got trapped inside yesterday, I thought of Sierra a lot. Even with thousands of moths, she would have taken the time to save as many as she possibly could have. I tried to let those that were strong and healthy outside. To me, all the moths looked alike as I swept them into piles. None really stood out. Sierra, being a lover of all things, would have seen at least a tiny bit of beauty in each one, and she would have mourned the multitudes that died.

–Most of us could say, “I feel really good about myself until I turn on the television or look at a magazine or watch a movie or stand in the checkout line at the grocery or look at the Victoria’s Secret catalog or meet anyone thinner than I am. If I don’t do any of those things, I’m fine!”

All women are assaulted on an hourly basis by an invisible attacker: comparison. We have spent years deciding if we’re pretty based on how we think we measure up to all the images swirling around us. But we measure ourselves not just against media stereotypes but against every other woman we know. Do you walk into a room and find yourself scanning it for the most attractive women? We watch other women more than men do! Am I thinner than she is? Do I look like that in my jeans? Or, her hair is beautiful; I wonder what it would take to get my hair to look like that? How terribly sad to have so little confidence in our own worth as women that we can only find our value in relation to others.

Nothing good ever comes from comparing ourselves, but we do it anyway. When we compare ourselves and feel we come out favorably, we feel proud. When we come up short, we feel insecure. Comparison never leads to humility or compassion or acceptance. — Johnson, Nicole. Fresh-Brewed Life Revised and Updated. Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Since being “quarantined,” we don’t see the normal groups of people in our lives that we are accustomed to. Those who usually form our inner and outer circles who provide encouragement and acceptance as we are also practice distancing. What we do see are Facebook snapshots of memorable moments, Pinterest perfect posts, and TV shows with men and women who have the ideal body with every hair in place, and never seem awkward or stumble. Those images bounce around in our brains, and comparison sets in.

IT IS A TRAP!!! Don’t fall for it! satan knows how to breed discontentment in our lives and wreak havoc on our emotions. “If only…” is one of the best weapons in his arsenal. “If only I had smaller hips,” “if only my hair looked like that,” or” if only my kids…”

Just as Sierra sees beauty in the bugs, God sees beauty in each one of us, EVERY SINGLE ONE. We may compare ourselves to those around us or to images we see online or on the television, but He doesn’t. Every one of us matter to Him just the way we are, and He loves us unconditionally.

When Xavier was born, my love was instant and overwhelming. I knew immediately I would die for him if need be. It was the exact same way with Noah and Sierra. Nothing could have prepared me for the all-consuming love I was given for them and continue to experience. Our kiddos are all very different from each other, and we try our best to love them in the way that makes them feel most loved. They have asked us before if we have a favorite, and of course we don’t. Even with that being said, they each still think one of the other children is our favorite and was treated better while growing up.

Sometimes we question God as to if He loves others more than He does us. He certainly put thought into making each of us special and unique. He doesn’t compare us to each other either, He made us in His image and by His perfect design. He gave each of us talents and gifts, and those make us special, not the way we look or compare ourselves to others.

We are all individual and precious in His eyes. Not one of us has favor over anyone else. None of our prayers reach heaven faster. We all have a direct line to God, and He bends down to listen to each of His children, just as we listen to ours. God doesn’t play favorites.

Today, can we thank Him instead of asking “why?” Can we look at ourselves as beautiful and as “His precious child” instead of bemoaning “if only?” Can we say, “Thank you, LORD, that I am fearfully and wonderfully made?” Psalm 139 is a great chapter to remind us how much thought and time God put into creating and forming us, and how much He treasures and loves us.

**For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:13-16

LORD, this morning I want to thank You for making me…well, me. Thank You for putting so much thought and time and love into making and molding me into the child You desire me to be. I know I mess up and disappoint You, just like our kiddos did us sometimes. But I also know You are always waiting with open arms to take me back in and forgive me. Help me not compare myself to Your other children. It is so easy to get caught up in how “perfect” and “put together” others seem during this crisis, while I stumble and fail. Remind me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and nothing can change that, LORD. Give me the desire to keep my focus vertical, looking to You, instead of horizonal, looking at others around me. Remind me how passionately You love me because I am me. Amen

YOU ARE SPECIAL – MAX LUCADO

*I have shared this video before. We used to read this book to the kids when they were little. It is a very good story about how we compare and treat each other compared to how God sees us.