SQT: Zoolander, Risky Business, Robin Thicke & Embracing Grace

It's that time again! As Li'l G would say, "A one and a two and a 1-2-3-4!" Here we go with this week's Seven Quick Takes:

1) This. Zoolander meets Risky Business. 

2) And this. Facebook, I can't quit you, but between you advertising this and Audible attempting to entice me with 50 Shades of Grey it's like you don't even know me at all. In fact, it's like you want me to throw up a little.

3) Have I mentioned that Pope Francis and I are simpatico? Well, we still are, along with millions of our closest friends, I imagine. Yet, I think the Pope is going to be a problem. He shocks the world every time he speaks. He stretches us, though nothing he says is truly revolutionary in the life of a disciple. He just has a way of taking what has always been our mission and expressing it in ways that pierce the heart. Then commences the wailing and gnashing of teeth as the media take what they think they hear and run with it, and everyone in the Church that finds a challenge starts to squirm. The latest, of course, is from his lengthy interview with Jesuit magazines. What was actually covered? Read the full text here.

Image by John Allspaw on Flickr

4) Ok. I'm going to admit it. I'm a little bit of an oddball. I secretly hope I am not alone, but I have a sneaking suspicion I just might be. Every now and then, I feel the Lord place people on my heart to pray for, and since the last season of The Voice, it's Adam. Now, I know what you are thinking. By pray, I don't mean fawn, or admire, or ogle. I really, truly mean pray. I don't really always remember this, but I feel that push every time a Maroon 5 song comes on the radio. See? It's the Odd Life of Mama McCormick. Today, as I was chugging along in rush hour traffic bopping away to Moves Like Jagger, yes, I prayed. Then the Spirit hit me and I wondered, why don't I pray for ALL.THE.MUSICIANS? All of them? Yes, all of them. So it goes like this. Song comes on radio. I start to jam. I remember "hey, pray for them." I pray. Then jamming resumes. You can now go whisper at the well about the crazy woman. Move along.

5) [Fair warning: if you have a squeamish stomach, move on to number 6.] The maternal instinct to die to yourself is so innate when we stop thinking about how hard it is, you don't even always see it coming. Wednesday night, Li'l G was a little ornery, and it turns out her stomach was probably feeling a little not so hot. Why? Oh, because after I said she could sleep in bed with us (read: me, because we have a bed hog on our hands), she proceeded to puke twice. IN MY HANDS. That's right. I voluntarily allowed this child to empty her stomach on my hands trying to avoid getting it all over her and the bed. Rational thought exits at moments like that. Seriously, if you would have told me ten years ago, or heck, even five, that I would, of my own choosing, allow someone to purge themselves on me, I would have sent you for a psychiatric evaluation. Such is the smelly life of a mama. After childbirth, there ain't no boundaries on anything!

6) By now, if you follow along, you know that I work at a maternity home. While we are generously blessed with faithful supporters and loyal donors, we also run across the paradox that while we preach "love the sinner, hate the sin," sometimes we collectively find it hard to love the sinner in our churches and busy lives. Enter Embrace Grace ministries. I am so excited to see what they are going to be offering and hopefully be part of this movement to love more boldly.

From www.iembracegrace.com

7) Going back to #5 for a minute, the Hubs and I were talking the next day about when Li'l G finally went back to sleep, and we were both marveling at just how beautiful she is when she is sleeping (well, always, but the context here was sleep). The Hubs mentioned that as he watches her sleep, he is in awe the she somehow came from him in any way. I have those moments every day as well (and not just in the "I don't know how you're my daughter because that is cray cray and you didn't learn that from me" way). Where I work, I often get that marvelous wonderment from the ladies upon the birth of their children. "He/she is so beautiful - I never thought that would come out of me." My response there is automatic, and such a part of God's miracle. Our children reflect the beauty that God has placed inside of us. It is from that divine beauty that these precious miracles are born. It is true of the women who come to Mary's Mantle, and it is true of the Hubs and of me. It is just harder to believe when talking to yourself. Also, before you begin to say not all babies are beautiful, to their parents I most certainly hope they are the most beautiful sight they have ever seen, and will leave you meaniepants with this:

Happy Friday, internet world! To read more quick takes, visit Jennifer at Conversion Diaries.

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Setting Beauty Free

Thin is beautiful. Voluptuous is beautiful. Baby got back and that's beautiful. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Healthy is beautiful. Beauty varies between cultures and times. Youthfulness is beauty.

Everywhere you look, someone, somewhere is telling us what we ought to think is beautiful. Recently, Verily Magazine tweeted expressing they were receiving "pushback" for using "average women" as models. First, I'm not even sure what that means in the fashion world. Average weight? Average lifestyle? Non-professional models? However you slice it, though, Verily felt they were getting some criticism (which is my own interpretation of pushback).

I, for one am happy that Verily is using "average" women. I don't think this means that the average woman is just bigger than a fashion model. I think it means that average women are all across the spectrum of body size and shape. Even more than that, I think it means that beauty encompasses something  more than size.

As my body has changed in shape and size between wedding diets, marriage comfort, babies and postpartum blues, I have gone through many phases of fashion. The smaller me tried to keep a more precisely tailored look that got less and less tailored as the curves seemed to get bigger and in all the wrong places. Through my first pregnancy, I wore clothes that were likely bigger than I needed. Most of my pregnancy I just felt fat, and not pregnant, so I didn't want to show off my belly or any other growing part of me. While I did okay getting some of the baby weight off, mild depression following baby one didn't exactly lend itself to motivating myself to eat well and exercise, never mind the empty sleep bank.

Before we knew it, I was pregnant with our second shortly after our oldest turned one. This time I watched what I ate a little more - there was no more month of the Taco Bell only diet. I showed off the belly a little more, but was still fairly self conscious. I was learning to flatter the curves, but still didn't really know how. When you see a fat girl through your eyes, you see a fat girl through your pregnant eyes too. And we all know fat isn't beautiful, right?

While the blues didn't hit the same way with baby two, other mind games crept up. I got a lot of weight off, only to have it return with some friends. Notice a trend? Weight and waistline became an obsession instead of healthy patterns. Let's be real, though. We can talk in terms of being "healthy," but that really has become code for "skinny" hasn't it? Can you imagine a healthy not-so-skinny woman?

Turning to fashion, clothes shopping off the rack, pregnant or not, has always been difficult. My body is not the fashion average. My curves are too big and my torso-to-legs ratio is not symmetrical. Finding affordable clothes that flatter and fit is challenging. As I have begun to accept that my body at any size is not in isolation a definition of my beauty, I've found places that allow for my wonky shape. Truth be told, I think most of us women have wonky shapes that shift through the years. While I see a fat girl, I have friends that see themselves as skeletons. Their struggle is no less valid, though both may be grounded in visions and fear not based in real reality.

I ran across this feature in a local fashion magazine while
waiting for an appointment today. I thought this perfectly
illustrated the plight of the average woman when it
comes to fashion, beauty and self-image.

When we embrace that beauty is eternal, that it is borne of God, that it flows from the Spirit within, the reflection in the mirror begins to change. When we realize that healthy belongs in a discussion between woman and doctor, we stop thinking of health as a weight and waistline. This is not to discredit that there is such a thing as unhealthily under- or over- weight, but rather to acknowledge that these categories belong in the health professions and not popular opinion. When we free beauty from the tides of social construct, we allow our eyes to align themselves with an eternal vision free of the fashion trends of the day. We can see beauty beyond size. Magazines that use "average" women, instead of a created ideal, might receive praise without repercussion. Maybe, just maybe, we as women would begin to see ourselves as more than the reflection in the mirror, but rather as a reflection of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us. How much more beautiful the world might be!

Keep fighting the good fight, Verily, and be beautiful, ladies - remember that real beauty resides with Truth which goes far beyond skin deep.

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