Fingerprints of God

What started my re-discovery of Steven Curtis Chapman was a hunt for a particular song of his called "Fingerprints of God".

A friend and I had been chatting about stereotypes- and all of a sudden, she confided that she felt really ugly as everyone teased her about being a ginger. One guy had gone so far as to say that she would never ever be more than a 5 on a scale of 1 - 10 because she was a redhead.

It. Blew. Me. Away.

She is absolutely gorgeous, and has this phenomenal shock of golden brown/ ginger hair. Part of her beauty comes from her being taller and more built than the average girl her age - more striking, more bold - but I've heard from numerous other girls before that being tall doesn't make life easier as a girl, so I suppose this is something of an insecurity for her.

I'd forgotten what it's like when you're younger to be so completely at the mercy of what other people think of you. I mean, I still struggle now, but I remember now that when I was younger, it used to be so much worse. What people thought, really mattered. And the song by Steven Curtis Chapman was like salve on an open wound - as he sang about how beautiful the girl was that he was singing to, because she showed the fingerprints of God as a beautiful and marvelous creation, I was reminded and comforted that no matter how ugly I felt, our God, loving Father, does not make mistakes.

Listen here: Steven Curtis Capman - Fingerprints of God

The things we learn from bubbly

I really like pretty things, which is going to be a problem one day when I'm older. But right now, I really just love this place.

The last few weeks, the following quote has popped into my head at random times. I remember saying it to a friend of mine at a 21st party last year, where we'd ended up at the restaurant of a farm that specializes in bubbly. Nice, nice. They'd decorated the interior with bubble and champagne bottle motifs, as well as in vibrant colours, with lots of wonderful and unusual couches, lounges, chairs, paintings, vases etc. scattered around. Stuff that didn't shout cool - but only because it didn't need to when it was so obvious.

I've now realized in the last few weeks, that this 'when I'm older' temptation doesn't need to wait for the time when I'm in the position to buy lounges, couches, tables, you know, like bulky kinda 'adult' stuff. It's already arrived. In the last few weeks I've realized that I spent more money this year on pretty clothing, driven further to visit friends and cool places, spent more when we do go out, gone to classier/ more extravagant places than I ever used to*.

And I'm falling into the trap of the Illusion of Bubbly. Perhaps its apt that the comment I'd made came as it did as a bubbly farm, 'cause doesn't the world appear like that? Oh-so-nice, fun, pleasurable, sweet, sparkly, but deceptively so, for it's fleeting and transitory.

I'm not saying pretty (fun/cool/nice etc.) things are wrong. God has given us many things for our pleasure, and He also knows how he's created us. I'm someone who's stimulated by touching, smelling, tasting, hearing, but most of all seeing, and He definitely gives me ample opportunity to indulge my senses throughout the day. But, at the same time, I'm going to have to make sure (and I think this will be a continual struggle) that I don't end up idolizing this instead of God.



* I could defend this, by saying that I never really used to buy that much clothing anyway, I've only started driving in the last two/three years, I work part-time now so I have more money to spend, and that the places we used to hang out predominantly were cheap little student holes. But that's beside the point.

PS Check this out for a previous blog on play

Chasing after beauty

The cousin of a friend of mine was recently spotted on a beach by a model agency's scout, and within the next two weeks, she is jetting off to Milan, quite possibly also Paris and Thailand, where she shall hopefully become known as the "next Cindy Crawford"! Ooh lala!

My friend was telling me how her first shoot went; how they spent a hour and a half on her hair and makeup; how she was unable to recognise herself when she looked at herself in the mirror; and how they still hadn't received the photos yet because they needed to be Photoshopped!

And it just made me a little bit sad... 'Cause all the young girls, fashionable students, older women [and to more and more of a degree, men are also being suckered in by these lies] are chasing after the ideals of beauty found on magazine covers or catwalks or movies.. Except that these "ideals" are so unattainable in real life that they can't just sommer plonk a beautiful girl in front of a camera and take photos of her without hours of preparation and editing before and after.

Does something seem a little bit FAKE to you?!?!?

Interestingly enough, when I mentioned this to Princess Sarah she related how one of her fellow art students had taken a Cosmopolitan mag to class one day to discuss her plans for her project. As soon as she took it out, the lecturer (a well-known and talented photographer) looked at her, and said in slight puzzlement: "But you know that's all fake, right?"

Just a thought.

Struggling with Fat Days. AGAIN!

I've been thinking about Fat-and-Ugly days. [Yes, again!] (Yeah, yeah, I know, this topic again - !!!! - , but I think that as human beings we’re particularly vulnerable to this issue, ‘cause it’s so dominant in our society.)

Having had many Fat-and-Ugly days, I have realized that people shouldn’t really try cheer me up by telling me how I’m not ugly or that I’m not pretty.

Firstly, it’s not going to work – if it really did, I wouldn’t be unhappy in the first place.
Secondly, you’re falling right back into the beauty myth by depending on other people's opinions about your outwardly opinions, AND you’re being distracted from Jesus’ place as your life’s center and Person who gives you fulfilment.

I have noticed that whenever I have Fat Days it usually is 'cause I’ve been spending too much time thinking the way the world’s thinking i.e. being suckered into thinking that beauty is all-important, and then I know I’ve lost the plot.

So next time I come up to you, and say I’m having a Fat Day, please rebuke me. If I’m not having a Fat Day it's 'cause I'm not Christ-centered and godly. Honestly. And I’ve decided to do the same for anyone else who’s having a Fat Day, so if you’re looking for self-pity or compliments, I AM THE LAST PERSON YOU WANT TO COME TALK TO!!!

PS What also helps is if I wake up to a Fat Day, I dress in a particularly frumpy manner so that I am forced to get over myself and the way I dress. Hardcore, baby!

Finding comfort in the Psalms

I was having another Spiritually Fat Day AGAIN , but God's Word is so super-duper amazingly awesome that it provides all the ammunition I need for Actively Fighting For Joy (see Coping with Fat Days).

Yay for the Psalms!!

Psalm 42:5

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God

Psalm 51:12

Restore to me the joy
of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit
to sustain me.

Psalm 103

Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being,
praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits...
who gives all your sins...
who satisfies your desires with good things...

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love
He does not treat us
as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west
so far has he removed
our transgressions from us.

Have a wonderful day!

Coping with Fat Days...

A few weeks ago, I woke up on a beautiful summery Tuesday only to realize that I was going to have a Fat day.

[As if waking up wasn't already hard enough by itself!]

For the few of you who are blessed enough to be free from this trial, i.e. those of you who are members of the opposite sex, this is how a Fat Day goes...

You wake up, stumble past the mirror, and think "Haha, Halloween rocks!" Then the thought hits you... Halloween's still months away, and you don't own a mask that looks like your face... (To be fair, if we were to be more technical, Fat Days are actually Fat-and-Ugly-Days).
You put your clothes on and you're like "I NEED TO GO SHOPPING! I used to fit in THAT?!?!"
Then you know. Everything's just going to go haywire from there.

And everything usually does. But you know what? It turned out fine, cause I had such a busy and happy day, I sorta forgot to have my Fat Day! (Yay for early adulthood Alzheimer's ;)

The next morning, I woke up to read the Bible passage for the day which was from 1 Peter 3, about how women are to find their beauty not from appearances and outwardly adornment, but from a quiet, gentle submissive soul. In light of my Fat Day, it made me wonder if we ever had 'Spiritually Fat' days. As I worked through this thought, I realized that no, we shouldn't cause we've got Jesus, and in Him we're perfect and blemish free. He's our spiritual Extreme Makeover! So that was Wednesday.

But on Thursday I woke up to realize that it was going to be a Spiritually Fat day.. Oh dear. But I was prepared, because remember, dear reader, that I had done all my mental preparation the day before. So I pulled myself together, and gave myself a good talking to, and realized that I could either give in to my silly emotions "oh woe is me", or I could Actively Fight For Joy. (The capitalization is very important, because then it becomes a Mission, and I enjoy Missions.) And this followed a two part strategy which I have found very useful for coping with Fat Days, physically or spiritually-induced!

Actively Fighting For Joy:
1) lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of prayer whenever I was feeling particularly down,
2) lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of reminders of God's truths and amazing awesomeness.

And yay, God was kind and good and gracious, and even though I spent a bit of the day still feeling miserably wretched and sinful and awful, it was a contented misery, ‘cause God Gives Peace and Joy. What a great lesson!!! :)

Let us remember not to just give in to our doubtful, negative thoughts, but to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Onward!!