Admiring my fresh mani/pedi with bright colors against my tan skin, It isn’t anything for me to gaze at my hands, nails and toes a dozen times a day in admiration. Call me strange, call me vain….both would be true. I still remember my mother’s hands and fingernails and she’s been gone for thirteen years now. Her hands never aged, her skin was smooth, soft and youthful, her nails were always unpolished, a medium length and the tips were white, requiring very little maintenance she came by these beauty features naturally…however, one nail had deep ridges that were impossible to smooth out..as if a reminder of sorts that our bodies aren’t perfect.

My obsession isn’t just my own, other people notice my hands, feet and nails too. I have always received compliments from clerks waiting on me, to someone sitting next to me on a bus etc…admiring my hands and feet. Once a sweetheart told me I had… sexy feet! Now there’s more to that story but of course you don’t get to read it! (If you want to know the rest of the story then book me for a {Patio Sit’n’Chat} titled “From the Fryin Pan Into the Fire”) All of this attention along with my own, homage never seemed wrong to me…until..I first slammed my finger in the car door back in April 2015, ruining my nail and breaking my finger. See blog post :https://www.juliemahan.com/2015/04/22/i-got-no-selfie-control/

I really thought I had learned a hard, painful lesson on being vain, my finger still remains numb where the stitches were, but the nail has grown out nicely. Here I am back to admiring those hands and nails when one of my toenails has gone bad and I’m like that person on the commercial hiding my feet. Truth is I’m not handling the changes in my body and appearance too well. I’m obsessively focusing on them a little too much. I’m fearful of what’s going to happen next.

All of this has weighed heavy on my heart….how vain and obsessed I have been. I’m positive God is making sure that I learn a lesson or two through these finger and toe incidents.

If you’re like me and find yourself struggling with accepting the changes happening in our appearance and feeling fearful, then let us turn our focus towards the inside. After all.. it what’s on the inside that counts. Join me as I choose to accept, not live in fear over my appearance and to work more on the inside. Proverbs 31:30 reminds us that beauty is fleeting.

“God deliver us and forgive us for our pride, vanity and self absorption with our looks. Help us not to judge others by their looks. Forgive us for coveting those who seem to look and act like they have it all together. Remind us that you created us in your image, we are your children and our worth is not found in beauty and that we need not be fearful for you will take care of us. In Jesus name Amen.”