Today my daughter, son and I went for a walk to enjoy this gorgeous day. As my daughter was riding her bike, she quickly stopped and I wondered what she was doing. She then got off her bike and ran over and pick a perfectly, bright yellow dandelion. As we continued on, she kept admiring her dandelion. Then she asked me about sunflowers and if they had black in the middle. I think she was trying to figure out if the flower she picked was a sunflower. I told her sunflowers do have black middle, but what she was holding was a dandelion. I then casually mentioned that it was actually a weed. All at once she looked up at me with wide, questioning eyes as if to say, "Are you kidding me? This beautiful yellow thing in my hand is most certainly a flower and not a weed. Just look at it, mom!"
We continued talking about how pretty it was. I actually changed my mind as well and saw the weed through her little eyes. It was most certainly a flower.
This whole time my mind was turning.
I wondered about how many times I get so caught up in viewing myself as a weed; my flaws, my mess, a failure as a parent, in my marriage, in my relationship with the Lord and others. Do we all, sometimes, think that the way we view ourselves is how God views us? Do we fall into the lie that we are a failure to him? Do we wonder if he thinks, "man, that girl is a mess. I really wish she would get her act together."? Do we believe he sees us as a weed?
Well, through my daughters eyes today, I was reminded that is not the truth. She saw the beauty, just as God sees the beauty in us. He created us. He sent His Son to die for us. He sees us pure and righteous because of the death and resurrection of his Son.
This reminds me of Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."
He rejoices over you, dear sister. He sings over you. Don't forget you are his flower. You are not a weed. So take those feelings of inadequacy and failure and lay them aside. Fix your eyes on the truth. You are loved and adored by the Most High God!
You are BEAUTIFUL!
