Let Your Light Shine

Several weeks ago, while I was getting ready for church, putting on make-up, Emrie asked if she could put make-up on too.  I said she didn't need any and her reply was:

"BUT I'M NOT PRETTY WITHOUT MAKE-UP"

I cried, right then and there.  She was dead serious.  She actually believed she wasn't pretty without make-up.  I felt like I had failed my three year old.

I did my best to explain that she was beautiful without make-up and that she was pretty on the inside, which is what matters most.  But she kept asking me why I needed make-up then.

I felt ill-prepared and ill-equipped to handle this situation.  It was important to her, and as a woman, I know it is something that will be important to her the rest of her life.  I didn't want to down play her concern, but I wanted to also handle it with great care.

Always and forever, I am certain I will struggle with how to address this issue of image with my girls, but for now I have decided to address the heart issues instead of the physical issues starting with very careful modeling of my own actions.

For about a week after that incident, Emrie and I would talk every day about what it looks like to be pretty on the inside.  We would role play at the grocery store or talk through scenarios while in the car about the kind way to handle situations which made you pretty on the inside.

But apparently my 'lessons' weren't getting through, because shortly thereafter, we started REALLY struggling with using kind words and voices toward each other (myself included....eek, that's embarrassing to admit as the adult).

To address this new issue, I pulled out some of my Seeds CDs and found the one that had

Matthew 12:34 "Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks."

Blending these lessons all together, I felt like we needed a phrase to sum up how we should act.  Emrie responds really well to catch phrases as reminders (all I need to say at the grocery store is, "Emrie, are you earning gum? and that is her cue that she isn't behaving well enough to earn her gum at the end of the trip).

Thus, 'LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE' was born as our family motto for this school year!

Our phrase became "If we are beautiful on the inside, we say nice things, we do nice things and we LET OUR LIGHT SHINE."

Ahhh...but over time, that just didn't seem right to me!  I felt like it was missing the major point that WE don't make our hearts beautiful, JESUS DOES!  It is because of what Jesus has done for us that we can be beautiful on the inside.  So I tweaked our phrase to,

"Because Jesus gave us a beautiful heart, we say nice things, we do nice things and we LET OUR LIGHT SHINE!"

Of course this will be a constant challenge and lesson which will always need to be refreshed, DAILY, but I think it fits our family so well right at this season of life!

How about you or your family, do you have a special motto this year?