Reason #550
I laid on the bed with my mouth wide open while Aaron scraped the back of my teeth with a toothpick. I am not even kidding, people. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. Aaron burned the top of his mouth with pizza at lunch today, and I was trying to explain to him what the roof of his mouth looked like. I told him to look at mine for comparison, which I guess looked pretty identical to what I was trying to explain, so I couldn't really get my point across. But what he did notice was that I had something on the back of my teeth. Ever so honestly, he said, "I just want you to know that you have green stuff all over the back of your teeth. I think you need to floss them." I immediately shut my mouth. I take a lot of pride in these pearly whites. I began to panic. What in the world could be on the back of my teeth? And so we transitioned into better lighting so that he could then take a picture of my teeth with his phone to show me what it looked like. I had no clue what was on my teeth, but I could see something. And so I brushed and brushed and brushed my teeth before the toothpick came out. After a few minutes of scraping, we came to the conclusion that it was probably due to my retainer that I wear at night. Anyway, I know I'm getting a little carried away about my teeth here, but I like them. I want to keep them, too. And I'd prefer to do it without paying a huge dental bill.
Yesterday, I noticed a tiny little spot on what I like to refer to as my vampire tooth. You know, you have the front two teeth, it's not the ones next to them but the ones next to them. Mine look a little vampire-ish. Anyway, I was checking my teeth after lunch to make sure a little food particle wasn't obviously wedged between two teeth, and I saw it. A tiny little dark spot that I had never seen before. I tried to rub it, and it wouldn't come off. And so I instantly began worrying that it must be a cavity. No! Not a cavity. I've never had one of those before, and I don't ever want one. And I concluded that when I smiled, that's all people were going to see. I came home and asked Aaron if he could see it, which he could when he leaned in and looked real close, and he said, "well if you notice that on your own teeth, I wonder what you think when you see mine."
I know this probably is the most vain and ridiculous sounding blog right now, but hang in here with me and I'll get my point across. My teeth are the one physical thing I really like about myself. That sounds a bit pathetic, I know, but it's true. I try to keep them healthy and nice. I wear my retainers every night, brush them a few times a day, and occasionally throw a Crest white strip on them. I pride myself in the appearance of my teeth. My parents paid good money for me to have braces, and so I've tried to do my part and keep them up to par. Yet I so often find myself being the girl who can only see the one wrong thing in the midst of a hundred good things. Forget the fact that I have a whole mouthful of 27 other teeth that look just fine. All I can see is the one tooth that is sporting a tiny little spot. The one tooth that, now, seems to be the whole focus of my smile.
Have you ever had anyone make something for you? They spent a lot of time, energy, thought and effort into this very thing. They designed it, planned it out, and specifically crafted it with a desired outcome. And when they gave this thing to you, what did you say? Were you impressed with it? Proud of it? Did you give them praise for the good job they did? Did you appreciate the time and effort that they put into this thing and see the value in it because of that, or did you criticize it? Did you tell them what they could have done better? Did you point out any imperfections? Did you focus on the flaws or even search for them? Did you tell them you were disappointed and that you think they could have done better? And did you give it back to them and tell them that you simply didn't like it?
I laid in bed last night and I thought about this. About my tooth? Well, sort of. But I thought about how we so often do this to the Lord. Because we are that very thing I was referencing above. That thing that was intentionally and specifically made. And yet most of the time we look at God's handiwork and all we do is criticize it. We tell Him how He could have done things better. We point out what we consider to be the flaws. We focus on the things we see as imperfections, making sure to be unappreciative for them. We want to trade it in for something else, and we don't even realize the amount of time, effort and thought that was put into it. We look at God and we say, "Look at this. Look at that. Look at me. Look at them. I know you made it that way, but I don't like it."
But what if we realized that we were that handiwork? That masterpiece? We were the thing that was made? And what if we tried to look at ourselves and other through the eyes of the Creator rather than the eyes of a critic? What if we admired what was made, rather than picking it apart? What if we appreciated it because it was done for us, rather than trying to change it or trade it for something else? Maybe we wouldn't notice those little things, but rather, we would see the beauty that comes from being an original creation. Maybe we would realize that it's the whole picture we need to view, not just a tiny section. And maybe when we did that, it would be as pleasing to our eye as it is to His.
I am the world's worst, my friends. I pick myself apart on a daily basis. I notice every blemish, bump, spot and line. Yet I am reminded that it's the whole picture that matters. And when I say whole, I don't just mean the wrapper. I mean the entire creation from the inside to the outside, and that's the order in which we should start. Because true beauty is it's own thing. It has no particular style, shape, or color. True beauty comes because we were made in the very image of a beautiful Savior, and thank goodness that He created us to be whole, not to be picked apart.
#550 - For a beautiful God who created us to be whole, not to be picked apart.
"So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." - Genesis 1:27
Yesterday, I noticed a tiny little spot on what I like to refer to as my vampire tooth. You know, you have the front two teeth, it's not the ones next to them but the ones next to them. Mine look a little vampire-ish. Anyway, I was checking my teeth after lunch to make sure a little food particle wasn't obviously wedged between two teeth, and I saw it. A tiny little dark spot that I had never seen before. I tried to rub it, and it wouldn't come off. And so I instantly began worrying that it must be a cavity. No! Not a cavity. I've never had one of those before, and I don't ever want one. And I concluded that when I smiled, that's all people were going to see. I came home and asked Aaron if he could see it, which he could when he leaned in and looked real close, and he said, "well if you notice that on your own teeth, I wonder what you think when you see mine."
I know this probably is the most vain and ridiculous sounding blog right now, but hang in here with me and I'll get my point across. My teeth are the one physical thing I really like about myself. That sounds a bit pathetic, I know, but it's true. I try to keep them healthy and nice. I wear my retainers every night, brush them a few times a day, and occasionally throw a Crest white strip on them. I pride myself in the appearance of my teeth. My parents paid good money for me to have braces, and so I've tried to do my part and keep them up to par. Yet I so often find myself being the girl who can only see the one wrong thing in the midst of a hundred good things. Forget the fact that I have a whole mouthful of 27 other teeth that look just fine. All I can see is the one tooth that is sporting a tiny little spot. The one tooth that, now, seems to be the whole focus of my smile.
Have you ever had anyone make something for you? They spent a lot of time, energy, thought and effort into this very thing. They designed it, planned it out, and specifically crafted it with a desired outcome. And when they gave this thing to you, what did you say? Were you impressed with it? Proud of it? Did you give them praise for the good job they did? Did you appreciate the time and effort that they put into this thing and see the value in it because of that, or did you criticize it? Did you tell them what they could have done better? Did you point out any imperfections? Did you focus on the flaws or even search for them? Did you tell them you were disappointed and that you think they could have done better? And did you give it back to them and tell them that you simply didn't like it?
I laid in bed last night and I thought about this. About my tooth? Well, sort of. But I thought about how we so often do this to the Lord. Because we are that very thing I was referencing above. That thing that was intentionally and specifically made. And yet most of the time we look at God's handiwork and all we do is criticize it. We tell Him how He could have done things better. We point out what we consider to be the flaws. We focus on the things we see as imperfections, making sure to be unappreciative for them. We want to trade it in for something else, and we don't even realize the amount of time, effort and thought that was put into it. We look at God and we say, "Look at this. Look at that. Look at me. Look at them. I know you made it that way, but I don't like it."
But what if we realized that we were that handiwork? That masterpiece? We were the thing that was made? And what if we tried to look at ourselves and other through the eyes of the Creator rather than the eyes of a critic? What if we admired what was made, rather than picking it apart? What if we appreciated it because it was done for us, rather than trying to change it or trade it for something else? Maybe we wouldn't notice those little things, but rather, we would see the beauty that comes from being an original creation. Maybe we would realize that it's the whole picture we need to view, not just a tiny section. And maybe when we did that, it would be as pleasing to our eye as it is to His.
I am the world's worst, my friends. I pick myself apart on a daily basis. I notice every blemish, bump, spot and line. Yet I am reminded that it's the whole picture that matters. And when I say whole, I don't just mean the wrapper. I mean the entire creation from the inside to the outside, and that's the order in which we should start. Because true beauty is it's own thing. It has no particular style, shape, or color. True beauty comes because we were made in the very image of a beautiful Savior, and thank goodness that He created us to be whole, not to be picked apart.
#550 - For a beautiful God who created us to be whole, not to be picked apart.
"So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." - Genesis 1:27