Girl, get that hand off your hip....

Do you remember the days before everyone had a camera on their phone?  When you took a photo and all you could do was hope because it would be a week or so before you got the film developed.  It was a time of unflattering angles, glowing red eyes and mid-sentence facial expressions.  It was not always pretty, but it was comfortingly human I think.

Nowadays everyone looks like a print ad for Abercrombie & Fitch all the time.  We've mastered the angles, the lighting.  We don't even need someone to take the shot for us.  Did you know that the average person will take around 25,000 selfies in their lifetime?  And don't even get me started on the hands on the hips.  You know what I'm talking about....the one where a bunch of women get together to line up for a picture and the people on the ends do that funny lean out thing with one hand on their hip.  Who stands like that?  Seriously, 1993 called and would like it's yearbook pose back....

Now I don't mean to pick on anyone.  The truth is I HATE unflattering pictures of myself.  When I see one something inside of me panics, as if that millisecond of time caught on camera is what I look like all the time.  I am the vainest of the vain when it comes to photos and (ironically) it's not pretty. 

But as much as we obsess about it, the Bible shares shockingly little concern for our outward appearance.  In fact, it's quite the opposite.  In the book of 1 Samuel, God has sent Samuel to anoint a new king over His people.  "I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem.  I have chosen one of his sons to be king" (16:1).  Jesse and his sons appear before Samuel.  These are young men of great stature, confident and chiseled, I imagine.  (They'd be great in an Abercrombie & Fitch ad.)  Surely one of these will do, Samuel thinks to himself.  But the Lord says to Samuel....

Do not consider his appearance or his height, for have rejected him.  The Lord does not look at the things people look at.  People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.  16:7

The rest of the story is that it's David Samuel has been sent to anoint, the youngest, smallest and slightest brother.  David who slays the giant no one else can take down.  David who will become king and make probably as many mistakes as he will victories.  David who is--above all else--God's.

Psalm 33:15 reminds us that He has formed the hearts of all.  Did He form the rest of you, too?  Oh, you bet.  That nose you think is crooked, torso you think is short and hips you think are wide.  God has created that, too, and calls it--get this--GOOD.  Do you know why?  Because all of that is simply a vessel to that which He has formed, filled and tucked away inside of you.  Your heart.  Your heart which is--above all else--God's.  

Will you challenge yourself to rest in that truth today?  Will you challenge yourself to scrutinize your image not on what the outside says about you, but what the inside says?  Will you drop that hand off your hip and be confident that He who has started a good work in you has much more in store for you than a winning Instagram photo?

You have been looked upon today, friends.  And you look GOOD.

XOXO....Kelly

    

Things Unseen

I realized something about myself this past Christmas season.  As I was participating in one of those white elephant style gift exchanges I realized that I never take an unopened gift.  I always steal.  I'd rather choose something I already see than open something unknown.  For years I've picked out my own presents....I don't even pretend to be surprised when I open them.  I've told myself it's because I have very specific taste, but really I'd rather just look forward to the thing I know I will like than be surprised by something else.  I know....not very heart-warming, is it?  Now who wants to get me a present??  If I was a groundhog I'd most definitely be peaking out to find out about the weather....

(Don't drive angry.)

Scripture talks about the unseen a lot.  At Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."

And at 1 Corinthians 13:12, "For now we see only a reflection as we see in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."
 
The future is the unopened gift in the white elephant gift exchange.  It is unseen, a calculated guess at best.  It is the spring or winter coming for us, and really has nothing to do with the groundhog!  But it has everything to do with the Father.

For as much as we are asked to trust and walk and obey, we are not abandoned.  The assurance that makes all of this faith in the unseen possible is that we have a Father who loves us, knows us and desires far better for us than we can possibly ever imagine for ourselves.

"And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the flowers of the field grow?  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you--you of little faith?" Matthew 6:28-30

We do our best to predict the future, lay plans that are good and smart and prosperous.  But the very best belongs to the Lord.  He who sees you sees the whole you, the whole picture of you, the world in which you live and the future on which you hope.  And His plan for your life has been rooted in His good and perfect will.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is eternal, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18), and embrace that sometimes the unexpected can be the biggest blessing of all.  

Except for those unopened white elephant presents.  Definitely leave those to the groundhogs....

XOXO....Kelly