Make Me Over

I love makeup.  I mean…I do not wear it often, but I enjoy playing with it.  When I was a kid, I COULD NOT wait to be able to start wearing makeup.  Interestingly enough, I did not grow up in a family that wore makeup.  Bible Study Mama lived au naturel.  Minimal fuss and muss.  So, my desires were a foreign concept to her.

Maybe I was drawn to makeup because I love glitter, sparkle, and glamour.  Maybe my creative side just wants to be able to blend.  Whatever the pull, I was a huge fan.  Since Bible Study Mama is not into makeup, she set some parameters.  First, makeup was not for little girls.  I would have to wait until I was sixteen to be able to wear it.  Second, I would have to go to a professional to learn how to apply it.  She did not want me to be in the streets looking like a clown.

Can I tell ya’ll a secret?  I wore makeup before I was sixteen.  If I was going to walk around the mall with my friends, there was always someone who had some lip liner and gloss that I could apply.  I would dabble in eye liner and eye shadow.  I tried a variety of looks.  By the time my sixteenth birthday approached, I had lots of experience playing around with makeup.  I went to learn from a professional and boy did I learn. 

I learned about proper skin care.  I learned about makeup application.  Honestly, it was fascinating.  Before that class, all my information came from my friends and most of them were just winging it.  Going with the flow and doing whatever felt natural.  I came away with knowledge that I still think about to this day.

That is not the only area of my life that I try to get by with quick fixes and doing whatever seems right.  Of course, you know that I am talking about my spiritual life.  How easy is it to surround ourselves with people that can give us quick fixes?  We look alright but do not even realize that we have the potential to look exceptional.  We really need to understand why we do what we do.

The quick fixes are always easier.  They do not take extra time out of our schedules.  We can do them on the go.  Unfortunately, that will not help us live our best lives.  We have to sit under sound teaching.  We need instructors that are connected with Christ and obedient to the Holy Spirit.  We need instructors that will drop nuggets of wisdom that will help us to live out this Christian life.  Let’s move from dabbling in relationship with Christ to being students of His.

I still enjoy makeup.  As the years have passed, trends have changed but the fundamentals that I learned over twenty years ago are still in use in my life today.  I think the same can be said for good Biblical teaching.  We can make up our minds to do better.  #wepreach