I needed a new photo. I had changed my hair color since we last took blog photos, and I wanted a photo that currently looked like me. The photo was for a bio for an online conference I am participating in and it was important to me that my bio photo look like the person the people would see in the video I will be in.
So with the nice Fall foliage, we took some new shots for me to choose from.
My father-in-law takes my photos, and he posted one of his favorites on his Facebook page. Without me knowing someone decided to take the photo and edit it for me. She did what she was good at doing, and sent it to me in a private message. I know her through association, and she completely edited it from the place of a good heart.
“It doesn’t look like me.”
From a photo editors perspective, the picture was beautiful. Normally when someone airbrushes your photos, you are excited. I mean that is what they do in the magazines. But when I saw the photo, I was sad because all I could think was It doesn’t look like me. My freckles were gone and so was the scar above my right eye. I have never actually thought twice about my freckles, and the scar, yet someone thought it should be airbrushed.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I put highlights in my hair in the summer, and lowlights in my hair during the cold months. I like to dress up , do my hair, and wear make-up. But usually during the week my hair is thrown back in a messy mom knot, I have a comfy sweater on, and my make-up is minimal. And I am not shy in posting myself like this in photos in my Instagram stories (you can see me dressed up in these stories as well).
But we live in a society that tells us that, that isn’t okay. Our Instagram and Facebook pages need to be filled with picture perfect photos, with bio pictures that are airbrushed (and hey I like to post the best pictures too…I will do my best to choose the best picture out of many to post). However, in a society that encourages you to be everything you are not, be everything you are. Everything He created you to be. He built you with a specific frame, height, skin tone, hair color, personality. Daughter, He chose that all specifically for you. You are wonderfully created. Fashioned, and carefully built.
When God fashioned Eve…
I love the word that the Hebrew translation uses for when God built or fashioned Eve. Okay quick side note here… I love going shopping for clothes especially when I need a new dress for a wedding or something. But my problem is that I am so particular that if I don’t like one little tiny detail about something, I won’t get it. Oh and I have this thing about matching my daughter! You only live once people.
Anyway, God is the best designer, but this isn’t the type of fashion that scripture is talking about. And this word is different from the one that is used when He molded Adam. The word used for fashioned is banah. This word carries weight, Beautiful One. It translates to build, build up, rebuild, repair, cause to continue, set up, establish, or construct something. It holds a strong connection with architecture. Many times in the Old Testament the word is used to refer to the construction of a palace or a temple, but other times it is referring to the building of an altar.
Palaces, Temples, and Altars…
Really consider this for a second. When you are going to build something, or fashion something, you take time to consider it. A good builder is careful with his plans, and pays the finest attention to the smallest of details. And the first thing that is “fashioned”, is a women.
And for someone who is so carefully crafted, we should never desire to hide what we or others may see as flaws. He placed every freckle on your face, every hair on your head, and beauty mark on your forehead. He allowed that scar not to heal completely, just so you can see that there is beauty in the scars.
When Jesus rose again from the dead, the scars from being nailed to the cross were still on His hands. But it was the scars on His hands that made the fact that He was alive even more beautiful. And I think there is so much truth to uncover there. When He walked out of His grave, His scars could have been healed. He could have walked out perfectly made whole. But they weren’t, and His scars weren’t hidden. In fact, He used them to show Thomas God’s power.
So Beautiful One, Daughter of the King, Precious One, don’t hide your beauty that was God given, and God fashioned. And I mean, that is the best kind of fashion.
