The Doctor peered intently at the scars. There were five large, irregular shaped “dents” which blemished Moriah’s otherwise flawless skin. He rehearsed the options. “The scars are too deep for microdermabrasion. The pox marks left from your bout with shingles are too big to cut out. It would necessitate me making a long linear scar down the whole middle of your cheek which could make your face tight and drawn when I stitched it back together.” He looked at Moriah and with a little sigh and told us, “Moriah, I’m sorry. There is really nothing we can do to minimize or erase these scars. It’s a shame they’re in such a prominent place on your cheek. But if you were my daughter, I would tell you to do nothing.”
I swallowed back my disappointment. We were at the plastic surgeon at my insistence, not because I thought Moriah was anything less than beautiful but I remembered when I was her age how insecure and self-conscious I would have been. I wanted to offer her a solution, kiss away the booboo, take a magic eraser and erase those scars. Moriah looked at us both and smiled.
“That’s ok. It doesn’t really bother me.”
The Dr. smiled and said, “You may not believe me, but I look at people’s faces all the time so I look with a professional eye. If I just was meeting you, I would “see” a beautiful young lady. My eyes would not be drawn to the scars. But I am sorry we can’t do anything about them.”
Moriah assured him it was fine, we thanked him for his advice and left. Driving home I ventured, “Moriah, are you really OK with this? Your acceptance of this blows me away- and blesses me. You’ve never asked to have anything done to fix the scars ….are you sure you’re fine?”
“Mom, you know that video you showed me about the little baby in China that was abandoned and left to die just because he had a cleft palate and lip? That’s sad. I can’t believe people would throw away other people just because they’re not in perfect packaging! Mom this is nothing. If I let something this little and insignificant bother me, how could I ever share with confidence that God loves us just the way we are? You’ve always said our beauty comes from God and how we live.”
In our photoshop, airbrush, editing world, we’re bombarded with manipulated images of perfection. Authentic Beauty is reflecting God’s glory and grace.
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Surprising Treasures: Beauty is found in the ninety year old woman’s wrinkles that shout life can be lived victoriously without “nip and tuck”. Beauty is beholding the amputee’s sacrifice for their country. Beauty is showing compassion to the homeless. Beauty is becoming a friend to the friendless. Beauty is selfless service, thinking of others and their needs. Beauty is love in action!
SURPRISING TREASURES: Charm is deceptive and beauty fades away- but the woman who lives to worship and reverently fear the Lord is greatly to be praised. Proverbs 31
Anyone that gets to know moriah well, will quickly find her inside shines even more than her out;) however, her outward looks pretty darn good too! I am really proud of her attitude through all that and happy that God used it as a way to solidify deep down inside her that He loves her just the way she is.
I think she’s cut out of the same cloth as her older sister! Loves
Personally, I think they are cool looking and the # 5 represents God’s grace. So everytime you see them, you can remember his most marvelous grace! Moriah, I think you are beautiful…truly.
I’ll tell her that Lori- 🙂 thanks
Moriah is a beautiful young woman…..scars? What scars? Never noticed…..
that’s cool Tim- 🙂 I’m thrilled the “scars” didn’t reach inside. 🙂
I am a blessed man and absolutely humbled by my children and their Christlikeness!
me too!
I love learning more about your precious family, Cindy. Moriah’s perspective reminds me of a grand niece who told me her freckles are where the angels kissed her. I’m also reminded of Jesus’ scars – beautiful reminders of all He has done to provide our salvation. <3
Thanks Edy- it really is perspective isn’t it- if we take a self absorbed look- that’s all we’ll think about- if we take a GOD look- He’s how we filter things. 🙂 hugs
Reading this made me think that you two as parents must have “walked the walk”. God Bless your family!
Thanks Deb. It is so awesome when you see your children’s faith SHINE!
Wow, what a blessing to you! She is a beautiful young lady. When did she have shingles?
Moriah got shingles last year- it was wierd- my nephew had them about a week later but they hadn’t been near each other-
Cindy..Moriah is a beautiful woman and no one will notice those scars. A lot of famous people have marks. It reminded me of Dan (my son) who has a birthmark on his neck, it is right below the ear and when he was in school, he was teased about it. He came home from school one day really upset over the teasing and asked :”Why did I have to have this blemish?” Without a hesitation I said “because you are so busy and the Lord just wanted to keep track of you.” He skipped away and never mentioned it again. I know he felt like he was more special than his classmates. 🙂 Tell Moriah that I still think she is modeling material She is so beautiful on the inside that it shows on the outside as well.
I’ll tell her Charlene! I’m proud of her- I didn’t have that much confidence in the myself or the Lord at her age and I’m blessed by her inner spirit. She has such a heart for sharing God’s love and encouraging people! It’s great to see she isn’t letting a little thing like a “blemish” stop her or make her insecure! hugs