By: Jenni Taylor

Hey, little lady. You are rockin’ that up-do. Don’t look so sad. Let me pick up this doll for you- here. You know, I look at myself that way in the mirror all the time.  I’ve tried hairstyles with a million bobby pins and red lipstick and new eyeliner. I’ve looked at the magazines, read the tips, dreamed of the dresses I would wear on the red carpet. I usually end up in front of the mirror, looking just like you.

Scootch over kiddo. Want me to do your hair for you? Here, let’s just poof it out in the front a little bit, add a pin here- good. Now a little bit of lipstick. Stick out your lips for me. There.

Honey, you’re beautiful. Playing dress up is fun. But don’t look at yourself like that. Trust me, I’m speaking from experience. Do you have any idea how beautiful you are? It’s okay if you don’t, because I do. I bet your mom knows, your dad knows, and even if they don’t, there’s someone else that knows.

There’s this guy out there, an artist, you see. And he’s told me all about you. He said you are fearfully and wonderfully made- fearful in the same way you put those pins in your hair, carefully and perfectly. He’s got plans to prosper you and not to harm you kiddo, plans to give you a hope and a future. He’s enthralled with your beauty, and calls you glorious. He chases after you, he calls you His. And bottom line, he loves you.

Do you feel loved, beautiful girl? Do you love yourself? It’s okay if you don’t. You see, because even if you don’t feel it or believe it, it’s there. You ARE loved. It never goes away, it never changes, it never grows. It’s just there. From the beginning of time, to now, to the end of the world. That love makes you part of infinity. Pretty cool, huh? Because of love, you were created to be part of the whole universe. Lipstick or no.

Baby, you’re not just beautiful. You are love incarnate. Every skin cell, every bone, from the tip of your nose to the ends of your toes, you’ve got swirly, sparkly, love DNA all over you.

When you look in the mirror, that’s what I want you to see. Your freckles are stars, and each one has a name. Your fingerprints are rotating galaxies, each one different and unique. That blood pumping through you is life, the miracle of the universe.

You are not one of many, love. You are much, much much more than that.

So let’s take these pins back out and have a tea party in the sunshine. What do you say? You and me kiddo. Forever loved.