Shopping!!!

My friend Diane has a gift for "personal shopping." She has taken several of my friends out to shop and helped them pick out flattering and up-to-date clothing and accessories, so we can stop walking around all frumpy and "letting ourselves go." Of course, we know that beauty is from within, not from outward adornment, but there is a time when one has "let herself go" too much. I was at that place. Being in business for myself and trying to manage a household with four young children is, um, time consuming. So, the first thing to go is almost always my appearance. I don't want to launch into a skin-care regimen at night (when all I want to do is fall into my bed), I don't want to take the extra 10 minutes to apply makeup, I don't even know WHAT to do with my hair, so it's inevitably back in a ponytail. Ashton begs me to leave my hair down every day, and when it is down (on those rare occasions) I get showered with compliments from my four-year-old and my husband. Why not take some pride in your appearance? Your body is a temple, right? And having no regard for it whatsoever is no more glorifying to God than vanity would be. Plus, when you have a husband who is blessed by a wife who isn't ponytailed, makeupless, wearing sweats and covered in paint splatters and grumbling about how stressed she is...that's a good thing.

So, anyway, Diane took me shopping last night. We worked on the basics, mostly, since I've needed some good jeans and black pants that fit properly. It was GREAT. I can't believe how much better I feel just buying the bigger size. When I can pull up a pair of pants and slide into them, easily fastening the button, I feel about 20 times better about myself than if I try to squeeze into something smaller and watch my middle bulge out and spill over the top. When I wear something that was cut for my body type, I feel so much better and more confident. Makes me actually WANT to wear my hair down and put on some makeup! And maybe, just maybe, make it to the gym more than once a month.

What's best is that we prayed before we shopped. What a good reminder that everything can and should be prayed over!