Two Lucky Ladies

Looks can be deceiving.

You can’t always read a book by its cover.

All that glitters is not gold.

You’ve heard them all before and you know they are true. The hard part, is unlike the God of the Universe, we are prone to judge on appearances. Why is that? We are wired concretely. We respond to what we see.

The dog really is impressionably challenged. She’s ugly, but in a cute way. That’s what I thought to myself but before the words were fully formed and I gave it any thought I simply blurted out, “She’s ugly.” I’ve spent many years considering the importance of tact. But sometimes, I don’t have any. It’s kind of like appearances, I guess. Some people don’t give the best first impressions, yet underneath an impression lives someone quite the opposite. Sometimes.

Most of us merely want to be loved for who we are INSIDE. Not what we do. Not even what we say. Not what impressions we give. I’m like everyone else.

Like Popeye of old, I yam what I yam and that’s all that I yam. Tactless though I be on occasion, I’ve been blessed with something not everyone has. Thanks to one very important person in my life, my mother, liking myself has been mostly easy. That was a blessing all by itself. Of course, then when I met God, I realized, my mom was really right! God says I am fearfully and wonderfully made! Yahoo! Sometimes, I am ugly, or tactless but in an okay sort of way. Sometimes, I don’t make the best first impressions or say the right thing. It’s okay, though, because I am His. The older I get the more I realize how rare a thing it is to both strive for personal improvement and live contentedly in one’s own skin, with mistakes, blunders, failures, warts, wrong motives and all. I am very fortunate to belong to a forgiving God.

Meeting Lady, the ugly dog, reminded me of this kind of unconditional acceptance. She’s been re-homed 3 times now (kind of like being stood up for the prom) and needed someone to take her in. She is the blind date that no one would take out, the wallflower that no one wanted to dance with, the Ugly Duckling of the dog world or Cinderella in dire need of a fairy DOGmother. But a few weeks ago, she got loved.

Even though she is really funny looking, my friend, Jill, Carli “The FunYuen’s” mom, saw her full potential as one of God’s creatures and invited Lady into her family. Spots and all. It doesn’t matter that she can’t dance and that her head is too big for her body. Jill saw beyond all that…..saw her for who she really is. Beauty IS in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it? How lucky Lady is. She may be ugly in a cute way, but what’s best is that she belongs.

When I think about it, Lady and I have a lot in common, but what's obvious is that we both have a great personality! (grin)
(seriously) Maybe we do, not because of who we are, but because of who loves us the way we are. We are two lucky ladies.

DISCLAIMERS:
(no animal feelings have been hurt in the writing of this blog)
(photo has not been touched-up, re-touched, altered, stretched, colored, exaggerated... no.... that’s what the dog really looks like!)