Thursday, February 08, 2007

Girl Beautiful (or Wondering How to Raise a Healthy Woman)


Heather is still very small and there's so much I haven't learned yet...

I wonder about how to raise my daughter to know what beauty is and what beauty isn't. I wonder about how to raise her to feel good about her body and to know that her sexuality is a sweet and good gift. I wonder how to help her know to protect it, savor it, love it and be responsible with it.

I had lunch with my lovely friend Deb Hirsch last week. We did a lot of laughing and had a lot of good conversation. We did moan and groan a lot about Hollywood ideas of beauty. Botox, face lifts, boob jobs, AAAGHHH!

So many lies to untangle about what beauty is and does. They come loudly from the secular world with power and a venom that kills. They come more slyly from the church, yet with equal destruction.

I have significant amounts of fear and trepidation about raising a little girl through her teen years. A very dear friend, (who will go nameless to protect the privacy of her pubescent daughter) told me that sometimes "I swear I can see the hormones coursing brilliant and hot through her skinny body."

Now beside the fact that this is the finest string of words I have read in recent days, the truth of her observation cuts into my consciousness. This is no small task ahead of us. We head into the years before us with only the promise that there is a guide on even the most storm-swept of trails. Maybe if we hold his hand very tightly we will manage to feel our way forward and find the way.

Oh little Miss H! May you be blessed with wholeness and joy.

Girl Beautful, be well, be full, be free!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

MAY IT BE SO!

Anonymous said...

Wow it is hard to believe that that is heather!! The last time that I saw her was when she was a baby

Anonymous said...

You are such a great writer! I have also pondered these same thoughts now that I had a daughter, especially since I grew up with such a tainted view of all this stuff. I hope and pray it will be different for my own little girl! And yours too! She really is quite pretty! GREAT picture!!

lisa said...

thanks, jen! every blessing on the raising of your little girl! photo by jesse

Anonymous said...

i mean, not the photo of me. jesse took the photo of his little sister in this post...