Schmos

"and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority." -Colossians 2:10

"May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands." -Psalm 90:17

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you" -I Peter 1:3-4

Last night while the family had a birthday party with Emily, I had a dinner party with the sisters. We've started a tradition that once a month a pair of sisters will cook for the others. Noelle and Lisa gave the first dinner last night-- an outdoors themed party complete with burgers, beans, (fake) bugs, flashlights (sans batteries... whoops), bug juice (mondos-- haven't had those since the 3rd grade), smores (or, as Noelle prefers, schmos), and goodie bags with trail mix. I'm currently doing the Esther study with these girls. A couple of weeks ago, Beth Moore really stressed the influence of the pressure to be beautiful on women today. She said that beauty was something you did, not something you were. Sometimes I get caught up in that desire to look pretty not because I want to look my best or present myself well, but because I want to impress or keep up.  And sometimes I'm not feeling so pretty on the inside, so I cover it up on the outside. I'm feeling down so I go to the gym, take a shower, and put make up on. Sometimes it's a good stress reliever and I feel recharged, but oftentimes my attitude stays the same, only my appearance has changed. All of this is to cater to a world that reinforces daily the fact that beauty has everything to do with how made up I am. How fit I am. How sexy I am. 

But the six of us, each with our own personality and feelings towards make up and outfits and dresses and pink, we serve a God who dignifies. Who loves us. For who we are, despite who we are. He says we're beautiful not because of what we do or in spite of what we don't do. The phrase of this past week in the study has been "It's tough being a woman in a world where beauty is a treatment." I delight in spending my Sunday afternoons and this particular Saturday evening surrounded by beauty. With women who are beautiful and who seek to be refined not by face wash, not by concealer, not by eliptical, not by a flattering pair of jeans (good thing, too, because my best pair are out of commission... a "hole" nother story. Couldn't resist ;)). No, we seek God's mercy, his hope, his inheritance and ask that he establish the work of our hands. I'm not the best at it, honestly. Because sometimes it's just easier to go ahead and get to work with my hands, skipping the first half altogether. It helps to know that I have these women and more, struggling with similar things, learning similar things, working and praying to be better at loving God back. 

...and eating "schmos".