beauty is within

A few weeks ago I mentioned reading the book Crazy Love. As I read it, the words struck such a cord in my heart and demanded that I reexamine my life. I knew there were MANY areas where I needed to either delete things or put more in to them. One of those areas was my girls' small group that I started last year!

After much prompting from Jason, I gathered a few girls from church last year and began meeting two times a month. The initial goal was to enjoy each other's company and gain some biblical insight during our meetings. Unfortunately, all we got was a good meal and some gossip! That wasn't exactly the goal!

So when we started back this year, I knew we had to do something different. I was going to have to put more in this if it was actually going to be a time of spiritual growth. I finally settled on a new plan and we had our first meeting last Thursday night. It went something like this:

GIRLS' NIGHT OUT #1

I didn't want to spoil anything, so I sent each girl a text that read:

Here's what you need to know~
Be at my house at 6:00. Things shouldn't last more than an hour unless you all get out of control! Please do not eat... supper will be provided! You can wear whatever is comfortable, but you might want to examine yourself from the neck up before coming! Thursday night is all about YOU!

With the exception of one, all the girls showed up, and the fun began. We opened with a game that another friend told me about. Each girl was given ten clothes pins. Anytime someone used the word "I", another person could take a clothespin from them. The one who had the most at the end, was the winner. This seemed like an easy game, but yours truly was the first one out! I cracked under the pressure. Those who know me well know that it killed me. I'm a horrible loser! Who won? Andrea was the winner. I think she only won, because she remained very quiet. She spoke only to take someone else's clothes pin. I'll have to remember that tactic if I ever play again!

After dinner, I lead a small devotion that centered around the 1 Samuel 16:7... "The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." We live in such a shallow world.... where beauty is only skin deep and people will go to all extremes to get it. Fewer and fewer women die with the natural body that was given to them, but rely on Botox, plastic surgery, and many other less invasive tactics to create what they call "beauty." Somewhere along the way, we have forgotten that TRUE beauty is found in the heart. Most of us (me included) spend more time worrying about the outside, when the Lord is focused on only one thing... the HEART!

I challenged each lady to focus more on the heart... and I gave them a reminder to keep in their bathrooms- the place where most of us begin our day!

We also spent some time talking about the things we were currently doing to change the beauty of our hearts. And then we did something just for fun! I paired each girl up and we set out to celebrate the outside that we all work so hard to perfect each day. We painted portraits of each other. Every day I ask kindergarteners to do things that are way out of their league, and they do them as though they are second nature. But adults crack me up! They freeze when you take them even the slightest bit out of their comfort zones. After an initial shock, these girls got busy and created some "beautiful" paintings... and I do use the word "beautiful" lightly!

Tina and Andrea were paired together (sisters) and below is the look Andrea gave when she saw the beginning stages of Tina's portrait!

Her reaction made us all laugh... Tina laughed to the point of tears.

At the other end, Amy, Susan, and I worked together, and it's clear we have no future in art... but we sure did have fun!

Of course I couldn't let anyone leave with out taking pictures of them with their new pictures!

I'll go ahead and get my embarrassment out of the way by showing you my painting. I painted a picture of Susan. I know... her neck is insanely skinny and long. This painting thing is harder than it looks.

Susan painted Amy. Here's Amy holding her picture.

And Amy painted me. This made me laugh... a lot!

On the other end, Tina painted a picture of her younger sister Andrea. She worked so hard on this. I thought she'd never finish.

And Andrea painted a picture of Tina... this one made me laugh harder than any other! Tina looks part-bear in this painting, and that nose makes me chuckle EVERY time!

We had such a good time. It's nice to take a breather every now and then.... and let girls just be girls. For an hour, we weren't wives or mothers or teachers or anything else.... we were just five girls enjoying life and having fun.

We celebrated who we are on the inside... and in the end, that's ALL that matters!

I'm so grateful that God has placed these women in my life, and I look forward to many more nights together! Thanks to you all for coming and for being such good sports! I love you all!