beyond the tiara
Jewelry, tutus, sparkles, wands, and skirts are part of the daily routine at my house. And, the most important quality in a skirt is if it “spins.” I always spin on Sundays for the girls so they can make sure it’s “okay.” I can totally sing Sofia the First for you! I can also dance like Angelina Ballerina, I will have you know! We all have a favorite Disney princess or two. A desire in most girls is to be valued, beautiful, and play a part in something great. This innate feeling I see in my girls every day! As a little girl, I loved to get dirty outside and play sports, but I also wanted to wear the beautiful dress and tiara. I wanted to be a beautiful, lovely heroine!
There are many Bible studies out to instill Godly confidence in teenage girls, and well, women, too. These are essential and girls need to know the value they have because of Jesus Christ. The girl world is cruel and does not change much with women either. It is essential to know our value and importance to God. We need to understand, as best our human mind can comprehend, that He made us and we are His (Psalm 100:3). I am afraid, however that we may stay with the tiara and not move beyond, to fulfill our calling from God in our lives.
The enemy is sneaky and likes to take the truth and twist it into negative. He uses twists of the truth instead of outright lies, otherwise we would pick up on the lies. It is much more effective to twist the truth, causing us to slowly question what we believe or simply blind us from truth by looking at ourselves. The enemy can take knowing our value in Christ and possessing the confidence that comes from Him and keep us stuck there so we become consumed with how we feel instead of thinking outside ourselves and sharing hope with the world. Going to church can become focused on getting good feeling on feeling secure in a group of friends instead of going to worship God and serving His people by reaching out to people we need to get to know. The enemy knows when we are egocentric and self-centered, there is no way we can be reaching others for Jesus – we are in our own way!
I have talked with teenage girls in churches and in counseling about this for years and now am working with my young girls as well. I see many moms who want their daughters to have confidence. Not a bad desire, right? Of course not! When it becomes a goal and obsession, however, it can take a selfish turn and become a problem, and turn girls into “that snobby girl.” I guess we need to define beauty a little bit, which is another blog for another day, but we are beautiful because the King of Kings created us and saved us. Now, through the confidence that comes only from Him, we have the privilege to be a light in a lost, dark, hopeless world. Everyone should be reminded of this from time to time.
I love creating stuff and making artsy things, so I sew, make hair bows, among other projects I like to keep going around the house. I finished painting a canvas this week that has “so loved” with a heart on it to put up somewhere in the house. Hey, it only took me a little over a week to paint two words – not bad! I want each person who lives in our house to know that they are special, irreplaceable, and so very loved. My girls need to understand that concept first. Not to let it stop there, we also learn to see other peoples’ needs and look for ways to serve other people. We learn to look for ways to treat them with kindness. We learn to get dirty for the Gospel. We learn to talk to people who are ignored. We learn to treat each person with value and dignity. I am learning so much by teaching them and I love it! Let us as girls and women look outside ourselves to be that beautiful heroine who reaches people for Jesus! Let us teach our daughters to wear that tiara while going to the dark places and speaking life to people there. Let us be the beautiful princesses who leave a legacy in our family lines of truly beautiful women! Much love to you!
Love,
Charis
