Day 13: Cosmetics

There are many different cosmetic products and lots of different types... but there are two terms women use to describe them most: Make-up and cover-up. God revealed something really cool to me about cosmetics.

Francis Frangipane in Holiness, Truth & The Presence of God says "wash the cosmetics from your heart," when he challenges his readers to be real with themselves. To stop putting the cosmetics on our hearts that make everyone (including ourselves), think that we are better than we are!

To understand what that meant I had to dive deeper into the concept of cosmetics in a woman's life. We have foundation to cover all the blemishes and make every part of our face the same tone, lip gloss to shine up those boring shineless lips, blush to give our faces a little adventure, eye-liner and eye-shadow and mascara to give us some depth, and it goes on... if you've ever been to the cosmetics section of Wal-Mart, you KNOW how long the list goes! My mother used to REFUSE to leave the house without her "cover-up" on. I asked her about it once when I was a little girl, and with a laugh she responded, "I don't want to scare people." Most of the time that I saw my mother she was without all that fluff and I had always thought the stars of her beauty. She didn't realize her own beauty and had little chance to with all of the make-up she put on to feel beautiful. And the world couldn't see her in her completeness because they saw her in her "revised" state. They were seeing what she thought was her best, all the time. The only pictures that made "the cut" were the ones that reinforced this made-up self image.

So, what are the cosmetics of the heart? What do we have in that make-up bag for our hearts before we will let anyone see us. Patience, kindness, self-control? Perhaps a rock steady strength that is seemingly unshakable. All the things we say we have before we get mad at God for not supplying our needs when we want, or we say something critical of someone because we think its what they deserve, or we fill our immediate desires for pleasure with things we know aren't of God. They are the cover up we put on for everyone to see because we are afraid that what we have isn't beautiful enough. But we get caught up with that image. The only comments we can accept about ourselves are the ones that reinforce this self-image. We begin to see these things as the reality so how can we see the truth? But Frangipane says strip off the cosmetics and ask God to seek your heart! Strip off all our false virtue and righteousness and allow God to bring us to humility, that He might search us, reveal Himself to us and WHO WE ARE IN HIM, and then give us a natural beauty that reflects all of these same righteous virtues.

So are all cosmetics false. I have some friends that would give you the best arguments in the world if you wanted to believe otherwise. I first thought, YEAH! WHO NEEDS FALSE BEAUTY?! But cosmetics can be used to enhance a natural beauty. IF we can see our beauty and embrace it and accept that we are called to love and believe as Christ did, then we can ask for the additions that can enhance our naturally beautiful hearts. "Put first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you."

When I go out I like to put on some mascara because it accentuates the length and fullness of my eyelashes; and glitter because it makes my face glisten and sparkle in the light. I don't consider it "cover-up". The gifts God gives us can enhance the beauty of the heart we obtain from seeking Christ and aligning our hearts with His.