Every Hair

Lord, You’ve counted every hair on my head. The brown ones and the gray. Would You forget the stretch marks? The moles and freckles and age spots? Would You notice the dimples - and call them ugly? Or would You say all of these are a harvest of laughter and abundance?

No, even these You’ve counted. The worries and the wells of tears, the laugh lines that are joy at the edges of my eyes. The extra pounds that come and go or stay and collect. The world says these things are to be hidden in shame, that fleeting beauty is all we have. That we must strive.

But You say beauty passes away. And what will be, is growing in the heart of who I am. You say You will beautify Your beautiful house, and if this body is Your temple -Your house is Your own people - then let us thrill in the beauty of what You are cultivating in us. And it’s sure to radiate out.

Character. Faith. Confidence. Joy. A home for grace.

Lord, You said You would carry me into my old age. So carry me. Know me. Let me rejoice in what You’ve done - new lives and the living of a full life - as I say goodbye to who and what I was.

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day" (1 Corinthians 4:16).