Pretty on the outside, Icksnay on the inside!

  Every woman wants to be thought of as pretty! There's no denying it. Females, invariably wish to be thought of as THE prettiest. When we go to buy a new outfit, we fantasize while looking at ourselves in the dressing room mirror of wowing those who see us in our new outfit.
  In small towns in the South, one of the best audiences for displaying our beauty is at church on Sunday mornings. I mean, we are pretty much guaranteed a captive audience for at least one hour on Sunday mornings to share our fashion prowess with those other church-goers fortunate enough to show up on the same Sunday morning that we arrived in our fabulous new duds.
  Come on ladies, we all know that if we are arriving at church in a super outfit, whether it be new or old, we spend time arranging ourselves in such a way that we suck the most marrow out of every pretty bone in our bodies in order to gain the most oohs and ahhs from everyone we come in contact with!
  For some of us, all this beautifying takes more effort than for others. I was reminded of all this effort this morning, while I was readying myself to be THE prettiest at today's church service. I did my hair and make-up, all the while debating in my mind which shoes would be most fitting for my long, flowing brown peasant skirt and crocheted cream top.
  I knew that the last time I wore this same outfit, (to school, not church) I looked a little frumpy. So, I remembered that I had a little-used pair of Spanx in my lingerie drawer that would readily solve the problem of frump. I readied myself to squeeze into said Spanx, thinking already about how much prettier I would look minus those few extra "wrinkles" around my mid-section. Cause, let us not forget, our goal is to be THE prettiest.
  I did indeed arrive at church and recieved at least one compliment from my beautiful neice on the success of my outfit. I did not share with her the UGLY truth about what was under my long, flowy skirt. I will divulge that info. here and now. Underneath my long flowy skirt was a body squeezed into a pair of Spanx like too much sausage in too little casing! And under that was a BIG grannyesque pair of drawers. Not panties, drawers. And under my super cute, sexy boots, was a fuzzy, unmatching pair of socks. Top that off with an old, ratty, but still competent bra in drab beige and you've got for an inside that didn't at all match an outside!
  While I was sitting in church, hoping not to turn blue and fall over from my inability to breathe in my sausage casing, I was reminded of several attitudes Christians have about being pretty!
  Number One: I think, way too often, while complimenting someone's outside, we fail to realize what might be going on on someone's inside. Sometimes, people show up at church trying to be THE prettiest, because of a deep need to cover up the ugly disaster on the inside. Sometimes, people are so restrained by things on the inside they sit through church and can't breathe. And we never notice, because after all, they look so good on the outside. People are hurting. People are covering up. And we don't notice. And we should, before they fall over.
  Number Two: Truthfully, all of us look better on the outside as opposed to what's underneath. Because underneath, all of us are sinners. Some of us have more sin packed into our Spanx than others but we all have sin. Sometimes, I think those Christians who have maybe a little less sin, start to thinking they are THE prettiest. Maybe it takes them a little less time to get beautiful on Sunday, but it doesn't make them prettier than the girl with the mismatched socks under stylish, sexy boots.
  Therefore, the next time you are preparing to show up at church and wow the crowd with your fashion sense and beauty, think about what it might have cost THE prettiest gal there to achieve her Sunday morning look. And before you leave her with only a simple compliment on her outside, ask her how well she's breathing. Maybe next week, she won't have to try so hard!