You are beautiful

As I held her tight and uttered those words, "You are beautiful," she smiled big and curled her solid little body right into mine - forehead to forehead, nose to nose, with just a hint of wet lips brushing my nostrils.

At nine-months-old, she couldn't have known what I just said.

But, she knows.

She knows not the words that spill out of my mouth into thin air but, the expression that spills out deep from within my heart piercing hers.

From the place those words flow, she knows. She believes.

"I am beautiful."

So sweet. So innocent. So pure.

And I wonder how I know I am beautiful? Tainted, guilty, contaminated me?


I think about as they grow and scrape their elbow or bump their table height head - and they come running.  They run into our arms and feel our warm caress as we lift them up. Then immediately they wiggle their way down declaring, "I 'kay, I 'kay," and scurry off again.

A little love and reassurance let's them know everything will be okay.

A little more time goes by and a scratch may bring them running, seeking the affection they desperately crave now that they are too gangly to be held.

Their tears carry on.

We tell them they're okay.

They grow some more and they are injured again, not from torn flesh this time but from a torn heart.

Mom and dad are no longer there.

There seems to be no where to run. They hold their chin up and keep going because that is what big people do.

How many times do they just keep going before they can't go anymore? Trying to be what they are expected to be. Trying to control what little they can control. Determined they must do it on their own now.

Where is the beauty, they wonder?

Mistakes. Guilt. Contamination.

They fall.

They are broken.

With no will left, no reserve - they surrender.

Surrender to the God who has been knocking. The God who has been pursuing. The God who has been chasing.

Surrender the expectation, control, and pride.

Suddenly they are lifted.

Lifted by a sense of peace, comfort, and knowing.

Knowing there is forgiveness.

Knowing that everything will be okay.

And though they don't hear those three words uttered in the form of the tool created to articulate expression, the expression simply pierces their heart and they feel held. Held tight. And they are drawn nearer as they curl their very being into their Heavenly Father's arms and know - just know.

"I am beautiful."

So sweet. So innocent. So pure.

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I'm linking up with Mamma's Heart today at It's grace.