Seashells by the Seashore
By Jennie Pierce
"I praise you because I am fearfully andwonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
By Jennie Pierce
"I praise you because I am fearfully andwonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
Proverbs 139:14
Seven days on the gulf shore should have been plenty of time to guarantee me the perfect find of a shell: a beautiful, completely intact conch shell. It was my one and only goal. In earnest, I set out to find that beautiful treasure. Day after day, I was drawn to the water, searching high and low, but always coming up empty-handed. No qualified conch shell could be found. Several days into my search, my elated husband found one. As he handed me a rather chipped, discolored conch shell, instantly, I thought, “That’s ok. I’ll take it home and bleach it out so it will be pretty.” As unpredictable as the ocean waves, a conviction washed over me. I was so focused on finding what I had qualified as the perfect shell, that I had easily overlooked other shells that held a unique beauty of their own. It was then that I changed my focus, and began to see and appreciate the beauty that other shells had to offer, and added those to my collection, instead.In life, the struggle is the same. We quantify and qualify what is to be considered “beautiful.” It might be with our own physical bodies. If only I were taller, thinner, had straighter teeth, blonder hair…and this defining of outward beauty is carried deeper still. If only I weren’t so shy, if I could sing like so-and-so, if I had the courage to lead a group, if I didn’t have this discolored past. Precious friend, do you know you are God’s prized possession? He made you in His image and, when you became His own, He breathed His very existence into you! What you see when you look in the mirror is not was defines your beauty. You are beautiful because God says you are - - because He created you in a fearfully and wonderfully way. You are no “oops” to Him. The God who knows everything about you, even the exact number of hairs on your head, accepts and loves you. Completely. Period. The End. No Questions Asked.
Exiting the water for what would be my last time, I headed toward home, random seashells in tow. At the last second, I glanced over my shoulder onto the soft, sandy white beach. There, nestled under some brush lay a perfectly white, sun-bleached conch shell, fully in tact! Carefully scooping up the shell, I realized that not only do I wrongly define what true beauty really is, but often I look for it in the wrong places. True beauty, true self-worth, is found only in the person of Jesus Christ, my Creator…the One who loved me enough to die for me.
GOING DEEPER:
1. At times, when you are feeling worthless, or even hate yourself, remember that the very character of God, Himself, is reflected in the creation of every person. You are no exception.
2. Have you ever noticed that in the description of the Proverbs 31 Woman, her appearance is never mentioned? It is her character, alone, that makes her an attractive woman.
FURTHER READING:
Psalm 139; Proverbs 31; Matthew 10:30
Jennie is a wife and mother of three teenagers. She is active in Oakwood’s musical worship ministry and works part-time for a chiropractor.
