Just Because

So... raise your hand if you are a woman - AND you look in the mirror every morning and say, "Yes, that looks just right." It really isn't done by many... We all have something about which we like to criticize ourselves.

But, as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And being beheld by God is a safe place to be. Nichole Nordeman has a song called "Anyway" which describes quite nicely how we are seen by God:

Bless the day this restoration is complete

Dirty, dusty something must be underneath

So I scrape and I scuff though it's never quite enough

I'm starting to see me finally

A gallery of paintings new and paintings old

I guess it's no surprise that I'm no Michelangelo

Every layer of mine hides a lovely design

It might take a little patience

It might take a little time

But you called me beautiful

When you saw my shame

And you placed me on the wall

Anyway

You who have begun this work will someday see

A portrait of the holiness you meant for me

So I polish and shine 'til it's easier to find

even an outline of mine

But you called me beautiful

When you saw my shame

And you placed me on the wall

Anyway...

God sees me as beautiful - even though... regardless... anyway. It's not that I've been good enough, or smart enough, or pretty enough, or righteous enough. Because I haven't. My Bible tells me that even my best "righteousness" is as filthy rags. It's not that I've finally worked hard enough. It's that He loves me. Just because.