The Best Way to Radiate Beauty This Prom Season

We walked into the shop and both gasped. Crystal and glass chandeliers hung dotted throughout the store, and jewelry and scarves of every color clustered in carefully-coordinated corners. Morgan headed over to the white silver section of accessories, seeking a studded silver headband. Fake rhinestones sparkled against her dark hair.

Photo Credit: Flickr user Janine, Creative Commons, cc license

After selecting a headband, she considered earrings with an artist's eye. Dangling different pairs from her ears she solicited the sales associate's advice, wondering if something was too big or fancy.

"It's prom!" the associate laughed, "You're never too bedazzled."

The sales clerk pointed to various earrings and then let Morgan decide. My daughter held up oblong jeweled orbs and cascading light-catching pieces. The jewelry radiated and sparkled at her neck. And I could see it, how they caught and reflected the light, shining out brilliantly.

It reminded me of the words I had read this morning. Scrambling to corral my wriggly second grader and keep his mind on math problems then, I had pulled my Bible closer. Turning to some verses that my mom had mentioned recently, I had read them quietly to myself, letting their beauty soak in.

"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trust-worthy, making wise the simple." 

Who doesn't need that? I had thought as I had gently lassoed a boy's imagination back.

"Okay, focus in," I had murmured to my home-schooled son. "What is 27 plus 85?"

God's words continued and I had traced them with my eyes.

"The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes." 

There it was!

Back in the jewelry and accessories store with my tall daughter, we had browsed counters, looking for earrings to match her elegant thrift store prom dress. She fingered pairs of earrings and deliberated.

I saw it, though. That no matter which earrings she chose to dangle against her neck this weekend, that she already radiated light. God's words that she had selected and soaked in earlier already reflected out the light and beauty within her.

What's the best way to be radiant? Want to catch and reflect the light most beautifully? Join me in the best beauty regiment ever. Spend time in these ancient words that revive the soul, make wise the simple, give joy to the heart, and give light to the eyes.


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Green Fairy Wings and Story Tales

Witches, pirates, green dinosaurs and pink tufted ballerinas stormed the nearby shopping center yesterday.  Red firemen, fluffy brown poodles, and blue Thomas the Trains hijacked the sidewalks, and commandeered the shops, trick or treating with smart parents on a warm fall afternoon. 

Weaving our way through the short creatures, my teen daughter and I grabbed green glitter glue, fluffy pipe cleaners, and cardboard wings in the craft store.  (Morgan wanted to make her own fairy wings for an evening out with friends.) Then we strolled companionably across the parking lot to a coffee shop for the rest of our mother daughter date.  Over her strawberry-banana smoothie and my hot Guatemalan coffee, we relaxed and talked of life, friends, family, our Bibles and God. 

Soon enough our time was up and we raced home – me to make supper and Morgan to drizzle glue across white cardboard.  Fairy wings and story tale endings are more about day to day efforts, I’m deciding. Fully aware of multiple shortcomings, our family is striving to be intentional – and full of prayer.  

What about you? What helps you be intentional about parenting your kids? What parent/kid dates do you like to do?