Beach Baby

(This is one of the first "notes" I published on my facebook account, originally published August 24, 2009.  Seeing as how we are all still freezing down here in South Gawga, I decided to post this one....maybe the beach scene will take your mind away to warmer place......)

     It was as if the afternoon had decelerated and all was in slow motion.  There she was in all her bronzed glory, the prettiest little thing, alone on the beach, each step seductively calculated.  She passed me and eased her way to the water's edge.  There she dropped her tiny purse (yes, purse, not a beach bag), kicked off her sandals, and stripped off her over sized, off the shoulder t-shirt.  I kept waiting for Beach Boy music to begin playing somewhere.  I immediately wondered if she had purchased her bikini in the little girls' section, as it had to have been three sizes too small.  She nestled down onto the sand and began her sunbathing.  No towel ... just her, the sand, the water.  Where were the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue photographers?  They had to be around somewhere!  I shifted a bit in my beach chair and repositioned the skirt of my Delta Burke swim dress.  A quick adjustment to my baseball cap (hiding the bed head "do" from that morning) and I watched as male after male passed by, all taking in the picture before them.  Some just took quick glances.  One fellow had on mirrored sun glasses, but his red cheeks gave away what he was looking at.  Then there was good 'ole dad.  Not my dad, but a dad, along with his small boys.  Yep ... dad got an eye-full and nearly broke his neck doing so!
     Every now and then, the bathing beauty would rise up on her elbows and look to each side.  Hmmm ...  I wondered if she was wondering who was watching her.  It was then that the contentment I've talked so much of over the past year finally hit me, I mean really hit me!  I thought, "I'm so glad I don't go through that anymore ... always wondering if I'm drawing attention."  I smiled and settled back down in my chair, the one I take to all the kids' games - my Mom chair!  And then, I felt uneasy again ...  not for myself ... but for the girl.  I didn't have to wonder about her insecurities.  I knew for a fact she had them.  Anyone who would walk out onto a family oriented beach, literally half naked (for the way too small bikini had a hard time covering up everything) had to be searching for something, and mere attention wasn't the only thing.  I knew that despite her near perfect body and the obvious tan line less skin, there was a fragile girl in there, probably just as insecure as I have ever been.  I shifted again in my chair and my eyes looked down to the pages in my lap.  I had been doing the homework from a Bible study.  I just touched the pages of God's Word.  Had she ever read them, I wondered?  Does she know that Jesus can fulfill every need she has?  Does she know how much He loves her?  My Bible study sisters will get this:  I wondered what was in her thought closet?  What kind of talk does she tell her own soul?  It would be easy to assume "she's beautiful, and she knows it!"  But does she?  Honestly?  Does she even have a clue as to the beauty that really, potentially lies within her?  Do I have a clue about the beauty that lies within me?  I mean, "beach baby" I am not!  After all, I was wearing the swimsuit version of Mom-jeans!  I had my early morning bed-head still hidden under my son's baseball cap.  Oh yeah.  I was turning some heads.  (Excuse me while I laugh over this). 
     Here's the thing, ya'll ... outwardly, I look like a Mama, but inwardly I am dressed to the nine, tiara and all, lavished in the gaze of my Redeemer!  I am His princess and no itsy-bitsy-teenie-weenie little cute as a button bikini could ever compare to the way God the Father sees me!  Sometimes, I look in the mirror and I see a mess ... but I know, He sees beautiful!
     I felt conviction immediately.  Let's face it, my first reaction to the swim suit model's appearance wasn't very - ahem - spiritual.  A "who does she think she is" crossed my mind more than once and a few "good griefs" murmured from my lips.  Hmmm... what did God see in me right then?  At the moment I was rolling my eyes and laughing at the scene of men stumbling over themselves and she soaking up more than just the sun, that's when it hit me!  Contentment?  Yes, and then some.  How pretty was I at that moment to my Father?  Probably not very.  I breathed a prayer of repentance asking forgiveness ... it was then that God helped me see her with His eyes.
     I never got the chance to talk to her, but I have prayed for her.  Maybe one day, hopefully soon, she will finally see herself the way God sees her.  Maybe one day she will realize that the kind of attention she was seeking at the beach this past weekend is fleeting .... so temporary.  Maybe one day she will give her heart to the Lord and clothe herself, not with fancy dresses or appealing outfits, but with His righteousness.