True Beauty in Christ

The following is a talk which I gave at our Church Women's Fellowship this morning. We enjoyed a lovely brunch together, had a lesson in tying silk scarves and an accessory exchange, some songs, and then I shared what had been on my heart as a result of going through the book of 1 Peter with my Bible study group for the past several months.

When you hear the word, "beauty", what comes to mind? Personally, "tall" and "svelte" top my list. Images of physically beautiful women are all around us. Every grocery store checkout line has magazines plastered with the world's ideals of glamour and beauty. Television and movies parade for us endless images of beautiful women. There is an entire industry devoted to convincing us that physical perfection is not only to be desired, it may even be within our grasp. If we take their diet pills, wear their fashions, use their makeup, and subscribe to their magazines so that we can keep up with their ever-shifting definitions, we too might achieve their ideal of beauty. The beauty that we see emblazoned across the world's standards is representative of only a slim percentage- no pun intended- of women today, and yet, for all of the billions of dollars spent on the beauty industry each year, it is missing the mark.

Ice World

We have had quite the onslaught of winter weather lately. Most of what we have been getting is in the form of snow, which can be plowed off the roads and will look beautiful and even provide entertainment. Last week Isaac was able to build one big snowman in the front yard and a giant snow head in the back. They're still out there. Only now, they're covered in a thick layer of ice. The winter storm which swept across the nation, coming up from Texas, caught us on its fringes, sending us wintry mix and ice instead of more snow.

Field Trip!

Last week we celebrated Jim's birthday. Depending on whom you ask my husband is now either 41 or 49… (long story). If you subscribe to the idea of "love languages", I would say that Jim's love language is "Doing Stuff Together", with a strong accent on "Historical Interest", otherwise known as, "Old Stuff is the Best Stuff". So instead of a pile of gifts, we gave Jim a field trip day into Philadelphia. We live so close to this city which is filled to the brim with "Interesting Stuff", "Old Stuff", and "Interesting Old Stuff", the kids and I figured we'd be able to find something just right for Jim. With a little bit of internet research I found a museum in Philly which fit the bill perfectly.