What makes you pretty?

How would you answer the question?  Clothes, weight loss, cosmetic surgery, words of another?

 I thought I had years ( at least 2) to decide how I would handle this question about body image with E. Well, that just isn't the case.  She walked up to me about 2 hours ago and here is how the conversation went....

M - Do you have lip gloss on your lips?
E - Yes, it makes me pretty.
M - E, what you put on your face doesn't make you pretty.  It is what inside that counts.  What is in your heart and the words that you say to people.
E - Where is my heart?
M - thinking to myself, I should have just left it at words I didn't know I was getting into an anatonmy lesson.  It is right here, under your skin.
E - Why can't I see it?
M  - Because it is inside of you.  Remember it is what is you say and how you act that makes you pretty.


I asked her a couple of more times to repeat that back to me, but each time she  pointed to her lips and said this makes me pretty.  We will keep working on it.  She truly is my girly, girl.  It makes me wonder why she is thinking these thoughts so early, what has she heard Ryan and I say that makes her feel of think that, or what has she heard other people, tv, or friends saying.

We truly have been given a wonderful opportunity to parent this little girl.    Off and on I have been trying to teach her Proverbs 3:5....maybe our next verse will be...

I Peter 3:3-4 - Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and wearing of golf jewelry or fine clothes.  Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.