Your Face in His Hands

     I still remember the jeans I had that worried me most that the boys would tease me about having a large bottom.  They were light stonewash and tapered and tight-rolled, normal late 80's early 90's fashion.  But I would be self conscious every time I wore them knowing "my butt looked big", and the boys would joke about me causing an earthquake with my footsteps.  It was 5th grade, and some boys were just mean.  I suppose they were trying to be cute or funny or make up for their own childhood insecurities by inflicting new ones onto their peers.  And it worked.  If I'm being honest I have to admit that I looked in the mirror just this week and thought "Man, my rear is out of control.  I've got to work on that."  Do I hold these words against my 5th grade friends?  Well, no.  They were children.  They had their own problems.  They hadn't had time to learn the impact of your words on others.  They didn't know they were digging deep holes into my confidence.  They were children. 
     You see - as a woman it starts really young, the subtle and not so subtle clues that if you want to have worth you must be beautiful.  From the time you start watching cartoons you learn that the beautiful princess is always the heroine.  Companies start marketing beauty products to you before you can read.  People enter their children in pageants before they old enough to attend school.  Boys start talking about your body by middle school at the latest.  And by the time you are a teenager you are oddly aware that you can't go anywhere without boys or men sizing you up as you walk by.  You can't go to the mall with your husband or sons without having to walk by a 20ft by 40ft picture of an undressed centerfold in the window of Victoria's Secret.  And we've taken God's beautiful gift of sexuality and distorted it to the point that it is unrecognizable. The internet provides instant access to our boys and men to women who show their beauty and ask for nothing in return (except their souls).  The images are abundant and the message is clear - being beautiful is everything and is to be expected.  And scars run deep and wide for women everywhere of being treated like an object.  And sometimes I just want to weep that my daughters have to live in this world.
     Then I hear the words of the man who could very possibly be our next president as they echo through every media outlet this weekend.  He talks about coming on to a married woman.  He talks about grabbing women like they are objects and kissing them without their asking.  He dismisses an entire gender as being there for his pleasure.  And I read this quote from Him from years back - "You know, it doesn't really matter what the media write as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass."  Let's add on the fact that he has a long standing relationship with Howard Stern and has himself been on the COVER of playboy magazine.  Oh, and the strip clubs.  He OWNS them.  And the largest beauty pageant in the world.  Yeah, he owns that too.  He openly admits to cheating on his wives (plural).  And then he has the gall to say this - "There's no one that has more respect for women than I do."  And I shudder.  And I grieve that this is the point to which we have come.
     But I know a man who respected women.  He came to the earth born of a woman, although He could have entered in a much more glorious way.   He allowed a woman to anoint Him before His death.  He appeared first to the women after He rose from the dead and gave them the privilege of telling the good news of His resurrection to the men.  He wept with Mary as she grieved her brother's death.  He sat with the Samaritan woman at the well and broke massive cultural norms in order to connect with her.  He healed the woman who touched his robe and blessed her for her faith.   He healed a woman on the Sabbath knowing He was opening Himself up to criticism.  He taught women about the things of God (even though this was against custom) and welcomed them into His presence.  He never sized them up or put them down.  He never made them feel less than for being a woman.  He valued them.  He affirmed them.  He gave them equal standing and let them know that they mattered.  He offered them salvation and personal relationship.
     Sisters, as you read this today you undoubtedly have scars.  They may be little scars on the surface of hurtful comments that people have made about your appearance.  They may be deep, dark, life-altering scars from someone who made you an object.  They may be scars from the man you love looking onto other "beauty" leaving you feeling once again less than and unlovely.  They may be scars from 30 years ago or from 30 minutes ago.  But here is what you need to hear - The only person in this world whose opinion truly matters believes that you are lovely.  He wants to hold your face in His hands and tell you that you are fearfully and wonderfully made.  He esteems you as His perfect creation.  He loves you more than His own flesh.  He will and has gone to all lengths in order to be with you.  He doesn't care if you are at your pre-baby weight.  He doesn't care if you have a thigh gap.  He doesn't care if your hair style is on point.  He doesn't care if your face shows lines from all the life you've lived.  He doesn't care if your hair runs silver with the stories of your life.  He won't ever demean you or belittle you.  He will never treat you like an object without a soul.  He will sit with you.  He will teach you.  He wants relationship with you.  He wants intimacy with you.  He respects your womanhood.  He esteems you as His daughter.  He is crazy about you just as you are.  And He offers healing for all the wounds you have endured.
    So if the world or the President tell you that you aren't enough, just open up your Bible and read about who Jesus says you are.  We have the truth about ourselves written on the pages.  And when that voice from scripture becomes louder than all of the others in our world we will finally know it deep inside our being: We are beautiful.  Because we are His.