Attack of the Mutant Carrots

Do you like my carrots? Yes, they are carrots. No, really. I grew them and then yesterday I harvested them. I’m very proud of these carrots. They may be too embarrassed to show themselves to the other shop-bought vegetables, but I love them because I grew them. So what if they aren’t perfect? So what if they are a little strange and very stumpy?

Even though I’m not a skilled gardener, I managed to grow these little nuggets of sunshine all by myself. I think they are beautiful.

God thinks we are beautiful for the same reason. He made us and He loves us. It doesn’t matter about the environment we grew up in. It doesn’t matter if we have physical defects. It doesn’t even matter what we think about ourselves. We can be a little strange. We can be a little stumpy. We can be considered outcasts. And God will love us anyway.

Because God sees our beauty, we are free to be ourselves. We are free to allow God to shape us, rather than society.

Do you allow society to guide the way you think about yourself? Are you influenced by all the beautiful models and celebrities we see everywhere? Do you really believe you are beautiful because God believes you are beautiful?

Made Special

Meet Cortana, my gorgeous eight year old cat. She looks like a spoiled member of some ancient royalty basking there in the autumn sunlight, but she’s not. She is neither royal nor spoiled. She is just a common household cat, who frequently has to be reminded of the rules. Regardless of her behaviour, what makes her special is that she is loved and she accepts this love.

We too are made special because we are loved by God. We aren’t special because we might be blessed with a high level of creativity or drive. We aren’t special because we are successful in life, or because we might be rich or even because we might be poor. Beauty doesn’t make us special, luck doesn’t make us special and influence certainly doesn’t make us special.

Only God makes us special because he loves us. And, just like Cortana, even though we need to be reminded about acceptable behaviour, that doesn’t change God’s love for us. While we accept His love, we can bask in His light.