Beautiful

This week, we have been studying a scripture found in 1 Peter. We have been learning about true beauty; we have been studying God's definition of beautiful. To introduce our new scripture to the girls, we made a craft. I drew a simple hand-held mirror shape on a piece of construction paper, and the girls cut them out and colored them. Then we added a circle of aluminum foil to the center. I asked the girls to look into their homemade mirrors. "It doesn't work, mommy!" said Bella. "You can't really see yourself." said Wubs. "You're right... these mirrors don't really work, do they? But you know, some people think that they can look in a mirror and see how beautiful they are. And just like our pretend mirrors,well, that doesn't work. A mirror shows you a reflection, but it can't show you how beautiful you are. Let me read you what God says about beauty:

'Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.'- 1 Peter 3:3-4

God says that we aren't beautiful because we wear a fancy dress, or glitter shoes, or we have lipstick on our lips. God says our beauty comes from our gentleness, our kind words, and from loving others. Our beauty comes from the inside. Can you help me think of some ways that we can be beautiful in God's eyes?"

The girls helped me brainstorm a 'beautiful list' and I was so encouraged by their ideas! Here is what they decided is truly beautiful:

put others before yourself

using your manners

believing in Jesus

making wise choices

help clean up

giving to others

obeying

helping people

sharing

not tattling

speak kind words

not believing Satan but believing God

learn about Jesus

telling other people about Jesus

The girls loved this activity and we have reflected on it every day! (That's the great part about posting our scriptures on the refridgerator! We see it all the time!) We know that the world wants to teach our girls that beautiful is all about their body, their hair, fashion, and other things that will all fade away, but we want to teach them the Truth, starting at an early age. We want them to know the Truth so well that they will be able to recognize and turn away from the lies they see in television commercials, on magazine covers, etc. We are praying that the small seeds we are planting will produce great fruit!

"If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all."- Isaiah 7:9b