I ran into a friend yesterday at Dane's soccer game that I hadn't seen since the Spring. She said, "Wow, you really have a good tan!" Do I, I wondered. Such a small little comment to take up so much mind time.
I really did think I had a good tan during the summer. Not that I was trying, but we joined a pool this year and between that and the week at the beach, I bronzed nicely. I was quite proud until I made some comment about it and Deanna ran over and laid her arm next to mine. She was several shades darker than me and made me look quite pale by contrast.
She has Don's skin and seems to absorb the sun. While I turn red to tan, she turns beautiful brown and keeps her tan practically till the beginning of the next summer. She got so dark this summer, we jokingly told her she looked like she had changed races and was Indian instead of Caucasian.
So, I continue to wonder. Do I really have that great a tan, which has already faded tremendously, or do I just look tanned now that my hair is so much lighter?
Sunday, we dressed for church, and I wore a dress a bought a few years ago for Mother's Day. It's periwinkle blue. As we were walking out the door, Deanna said, "Mom, THAT hair color looks great with that dress." Then she went on to explain that she couldn't call it "my" hair, because it wasn't.
The funny thing is, this is the color my hair was my whole childhood. This is the way I remember myself and I am never surprised when I catch sight of myself in a mirror with this hair color. In the past, when my hair began to darken so much, I found that it often was a stranger looking back at me in the mirror. The eyes and shape of the face were right, but the hair - something was wrong.
I don't know if it's really my skin shade or my hair, but in either case, I'm thrilled I looked tanned and I choose to take this as a huge compliment.
2 comments:
I don't know which is making you look more tan either, but maybe try pulling your hair back and see what you look like. Cover it with a hat or headband. I have a hard time tanning myself. I am SO fair skinned..*sigh*
About yesterday's post.
I know the book of Job talks about how Job was going through those hard times. We all go through trials which test our faith. I think this happens so we are forced to think about what is important to us and keep our faith.
I don't know why I was dealt the deaf card. It sure is not an easy life. I am working on trying to fix that.
I believe all diseases and evil are the result of man's free will. Man chose to sin, so we all have the consequence of that. Handicaps are not intended, but we have them so we have to accept them and learn how to deal with them. We have to keep our faith and pray and do what we feel is necessary to please God. No matter how much of a Godly person we are, we all have a sinful nature. We are born with it, and we must pay for that.
It is so easy to just say "Well, there is no God, He would not have done this." I think the proper response would be to ride out the storm and hang onto your faith. Which is what your father has done. He had the right attitude, even though it must have been very hard for him. Because of his perserverence in his faith, he and others have been blessed.
There is always some reason for our bodies to give out on us, be it out diet, exercise habits, whatever, even some things that happen in the womb, but we bear the burdens of our lifestyle combined with what God's will is.
God bless your father. He sounds like such a wonderful man.
Aha! There's the rub - "combined with what God's will is". This is the eternal question. Does God "will" us to experience bad things? What about people who seemingly choose the wrong spouse and marriage becomes a burden, rather than a joy, for them? And what about parents who mistreat their own children? Why does God allow them to have more children? For me, the answer is that God does have a perfect will for His creatures. But the tremendous gift of free choice that God bestowed on us allows us to choose a path out of his perfect will. Sometimes those choices bring us happiness for a time, but the joy is not complete and we lack the purpose God intended for us. It's comparable to when Christians serve God by doing good acts that keep them very busy but those acts are not God's perfect will for them. Although these acts serve the Lord, they fall short of his purpose for these individuals.
More food for thought!!
Write again soon, Talli. Your comments are always insightful.
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