Nothin', Nada, Zippo, Zilch

Lately I've had this little thought niggling in my mind.

It seems like we just don't ever leave anything alone.  How many things do we change from their original state so that they are more appealing to us?  It's kind of like we have lost the appreciation for many things in their natural state.  The way they were made is just not good enough anymore.

And that kind of bothers me.  Not in an angry way.  In a wrinkle-between-the-eyes-from-pondering kind of way. 

I believe that God made this world & I believe that He made each one of us.  And that includes all of everything.  And who am I to say that He didn't do a fantastic job?

So why do we feel the need to enhance just about everything under the sun?

For example, when I read through a blog post that enumerated the many beauties of the flowers this spring, I really enjoyed it.  But then I noticed that every single picture in the post had some sort of filter enhancement.  It just seemed kind of incongruous, in a way.

And it got me to thinking...we enhance all kinds of things.  We enhance our food.  Are you familiar with MSG?  We also enhance our music.  I'm sure I don't really know all the ins & outs of the music recording industry but I'm pretty sure that if I were to attend a concert of nearly any artist there would be some major differences between the show & the CD.  And there are innumerable ways that we can enhance ourselves - hair dye, breast augmentation, make up, colored contact lenses - we can fix our complexions, our gray hair, our 'defincies', & even our eye color.  If we think our own fingernails (or even toenails!) aren't good enough, we can have fake ones put on. 

Don't get me wrong - I employ quite a few of these enhancement.  I wear makeup; I dye my gray hair.  I use Instagram to edit photos & make them shiny & bright.  And I don't intend to quit any of that any time soon. 

But I do hope that I quit underappreciating the way God had made things.  Goofy as it seems, the fact that God made our food in a certain way makes me feel even more determined to limit the amount of processed foods we eat.  He intended our food to be a particular way & I'm sure that's the way it will best nourish my body.  And I hope that I can quit feeling like I MUST dye my hair, I MUST have makeup on before I can leave the house.  God also made me in a particular way & while I have no intention of 'letting myself go,' I do feel like I need to be a little more at peace with the way He created me to look. 

And so I'm going to be brave & post a pic of myself in my natural, relaxed state - old race t-shirt, no makeup, hair pulled back & the frizzies flying out.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully & wonderfully made. 

Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:14