Not Alone Series: Make-up

Hi friends! Wow, it's Tuesday already - jeepers! Time to join to link-up fun with Jen from Jumping in Puddles and Morgan from Follow and Believe.

What are your thoughts on wearing make-up? Do you see a tension between a pressure from society and a God-given desire to be and make life beautiful? Is your use of make-up compatible with the idea that God sees you as naturally beautiful?

Really quickly, a friend shared this article today and I thought it was very appropriate! Thoughts?

Oh golly. I'll be honest and take the heat/credit, depending on how you look at it - this prompt was my idea. This is a question that has been tickling at my mind and heart for a while, and I'm still not sure how to answer it. There are a few stepping stone conclusions I've reached, but the path keeps going beyond my line of sight. As Tilly from "Miranda" would say, "bear with!"

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So. Make-up. Stepping stones. I'm a bullet-point kind of gal, so here is the bullet-point list of what I know that I know:

• God made me, and He didn't make mistakes when He made me. I hesitantly think that the logical conclusion is that He thinks I'm beautiful.
• I like feeling beautiful.
• Feeling beautiful doesn't come solely from wearing make-up {or wearing certain clothes, but that's a separate post}. Make-up can help me feel dressed up, which usually means there's an occasion for which I want to feel beautiful, but make-up does not make {ha! pun!} or break my beautiful-o-meter.
• There is definitely a pressure from society for women to be beautiful. Society's standard of beauty a) has evolved over the years, b) is photo-shopped, and c) is profit-driven. I think women wanting to be beautiful has been exploited by advertisers, and the market has changed from enhancing natural beauty to changing your body to meet society's standard.
• As much as I want my outward person to be beautiful, the inner person matters more. My character will shine brighter than any lip gloss, or it will be duller than unconditioned hair. 

Did anyone find a clear conclusion among those stepping stones? Me neither. But the path is leading in a good direction, I believe, so we'll just keep walking down this path.

My make-up routine is really basic, and it gets even more basic on weekends. I put some shadow and liner on my eyes, and a bit of concealer under my eyes and maybe elsewhere if a zit demands. Sometimes I wear mascara; sometimes not. I put chap-stick on at night after I brush my teeth, and I brush with toothpaste and baking soda. It's a good day when I remember to apply body spray. 

I think the most important aspect of make-up for me is making sure I'm comfortable without it. As long as make-up is a choice for me, then everything is alright.

When I was deathly ill sick on the couch on Sunday, my friend Rebecca came over to deliver some orange juice {she is so great!}. I had moved from my bed to the couch, period. No hair brush, no face wash, no daytime clothing, nothing! And it was absolutely fine {part of this nonchalance is probably due to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, that breathing comes before being beautiful, but whatevs!}. Both my inner and outer person are made beautifully, and that's what counts. 

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Finish This: Week Fourteen

It's time for Finish This! Linking up with Nicole at Three 31, Jen at The Arizona Russums, Becky at The Java Mama, and Lisa at Coastlined.

On Saturday, I usually sleep in, but still wake up in time for a morning Zumba class. Saturday is also laundry day, "The Office" day, and errands day.

I feel beautiful when I get to wear non-office clothing. It's not that my office-appropriate clothing are ugly; they're just a bunch of clothes that I cycle through, and so I get excited when I can wear something fun that isn't necessarily ok to wear to the office.

I wake up every morning hitting the snooze button and then fumbling for the Bible app on my phone. I like to listen to a chapter in the morning, if I'm coherent enough to push the right buttons. Right now my pastor is taking us through John, and I'm on my second time through this year.
Also, I'm with Jen - I wake up wishing that I had gone to bed earlier. I shoot for 10, knowing 10:30 is reasonable, but 11 has said hi a few times this week already.

A happy home has happy residents, and this resident likes a clean home! Dishes are a big deal to me; I don't like leaving dirty dishes tables or countertops. Also, I can't go to bed until the kitchen is reasonably clean - counters wiped off, dishes either loaded or soaking, food put away. The morning is so much smoother if the kitchen is clean from the night before. Plus, a happy home is a welcoming home, and I so much prefer to welcome guests into a clean home.

When I have down time, I clean my house {see above} and read. I've got 3 books that I'm currently in the midst of {plus the audio book in the car}, and I have a love/hate relationship with the pressure library due dates give me.

Thanks for joining! See ya next week...

Poem: I Am Beautiful

I read a poem by Jen at Jumping In Puddles this morning and am going to give it a try. The template is from Laura at Catholic Cravings {I tweaked it just a bit, since she said we could}. Laura's poem and template were inspired by last week's Not Alone Series.

I Am Beautiful

I am beautiful.

I am beautiful because I am  made in the image of God, Who loves me

with a love from which I cannot be separated.

I am beautiful inside and out, for He didn't just make my soul but my body, too.

All of me, body and soul, is a reflection of Him.

I am beautiful because my smile is wide and contagious,

because my hands are small and scarred, short and curvy, 

and that reminds me that it is okay to accept those descriptors about myself

because I am scarred and short and curvy.

I am beautiful because I am "tongue-tied" and can still both roll and fold my tongue. 

I am beautiful when I organized our entire Dr. Seuss collection on the stairs, 

pretending to work in a library.

I am beautiful because the moles on my body remind me

of my mother and grandmother,

and I am proud to be connected with two amazing women.

I am beautiful because the roundness of my tummy reminds me that 

one day my female organs will carry a newly-created life.

I am beautiful like laughter between friends on the beach in the middle of summer.

I am beautiful when I smile.

I am beautiful when I take Communion 

and when I raise my hands in worship.

I am beautiful when I laugh and when I mourn,

when I pray for my sponsor child who is beautiful.

I am beautiful when I wear my black lacy dress and Samara's pearls.

I was beautiful even when I did not see it. Though I tried to vomit

and cried when I couldn't go through with it,

I was beautiful.

I am beautiful still.

I don't know whether my eyes are doves behind a veil,

or my hair is like a flock of doves descending from Gilead.

But in my own way, in my own Rebekah-way, I am beautiful.

Perhaps I am beautiful like a peacock's feather, 

or like a pink and orange sunset reflected on the Pacific.

I am definitely not beautiful because I am perfect.

I am not perfect, inwardly or outwardly.

I have flaws enough.

But I am beautiful.

For I am loved by God,

and love is in my heart,

and where there is love,

there is beauty.