Great news: the boutique is now OPEN! But before you visit it, will you go on a little imaginary journey with me today? Imagine this scene:
Your daughter’s alarm goes off at 6:15 a.m. She opens her eyes on this first day of school, with a lot already on her mind. She had a little bit of trouble sleeping the night before, wondering what this day will be like. Will her friends will be in the same classes as her? Will she still feel like she belongs? She sighs with some relief as the first thing she sees is a pillow saying, “Be you. Be matchless.” “I don’t need to worry about today and what other’s think of me. I just need to be who I am, who God made me to be.” she reminds herself.
She hops out of bed to get dressed.
On the floor she sees her outfit laid out from the night before for the big day: a skirt, some leggings, and a t-shirt that says “I’m just one girl, but I’m changing the world.” She puts on her clothes and looks confidently in the mirror as she pulls her hair into a ponytail.
She arrives at school and begins to go through the school day routine.
Your daughter is reconnecting with friends and meeting new girls. Lots of her friends wear clothes from trendy stores and plenty more shop at big-name discount stores. Some clothes say things like “diva” and some are even a bit provocative. Her friends come from all walks of life, but none of them wear clothes quite like your daughter. She’s glad she’s wearing her shirt, though. School can be a tough place and peers can be hard on themselves and each other. “I hope my t-shirt can remind my friends what matters most.” she thinks.
At lunch time, your daughter bumps into a friend in the restroom that she hasn’t seen in a couple years. It turns out her friend has been living with her dad in another state, but has recently moved back to live with her mom. She’s feeling awkward and left-out, but is relieved to see your daughter. “Why don’t you eat lunch with me?” your daughter asks welcomingly. “But what if your friends don’t like me?” the new girl asks. “Just be you. After all, that’s exactly who you were made to be, right?”
The school day ends up seemingly much like any other day, after all. It concludes and your daughter has had the ups and downs like any typical girl, only, she feels a little better about it than she has in previous years.
Your daughter leaves for her after-school Art Club.
On her way, she double checks her after-school tote to make sure she has all the supplies she needs for the day’s project. Upon seeing everything’s accounted for, she glances at the front of her tote and is reminded that no matter what mistakes she’s made that day, “Jesus turns our mess into his masterpiece.” “Boy, am I glad he does because I sure played some wrong notes in band today.” she murmurs to herself.
After Art Club, dinner with your family, and some homework, your daughter pulls out her journaling kit she got as a back-to-school gift from you. As she writes down what happened and her feelings about the day, she’s reminded of God’s truth and her value in Him. She knows that journaling not only helps her express her feelings, but the bookmarks and stickers that came with the kit remind her to match her feelings up against what God’s Word says. She ends the day feeling encouraged and ready for the next day. She glances down at tomorrow’s shirt. It says “Make a joyful noise.” She drifts off, smiling, knowing that her clarinet may not make a joyful noise to her band director (yet!), but she knows it’s joyful to her Creator.
Friends, when I felt God’s prompting to turn my products into bold statements about ours and our daughter’s matchlessness, THIS is the kind of scenario I imagined.
I envisioned all of us having a MAXIMUM impact on the confidence and feelings of value for our daughters, ourselves, and our circles of influence. Part of how I envisioned us doing this is through these products in the boutique.
God has made each of us with specific gifts. We all have specific talents and skills. Too many of us have learned to only use those to benefit ourselves and to build comfortable lives. In reality, they are to be used for maximum impact for God!
We commonly ask kids, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” as if someday they can fulfill their destiny. It’s not a bad question. However, it implies that what they’re doing today is only moving them towards what they will someday be. We miss the fact that girls aren’t growing up to become world-changers. No,they already are world-changers! If we encourage them to have an impact on their friends, culture, and communities TODAY, it gives them more confidence and purpose.
The question then really should be “What did you do today to really impact someone else?” Our days might not look fabulous, glamorous, or earth-shattering. In fact, much like the story above, our days may seem much like other ordinary days. But small, intentional thoughts & interactions, like those with the daughter in the story, add up and are impactful.
The messages our girls surround themselves with will help them become the world-changers they (and we) want them to be today. When you surround your daughter with God’s truth about who she is and why she is here, she will make a difference. She will change the world.
The boutique here at Matchless Beauty is a place you can get a hold of some of those things.
Each product has a purpose and message. Each product is to remind her and you and those you surround yourselves with of your matchlessness. Each product mentioned in the story has a link to that same product in my boutique. I would love for you to visit the boutique and pick up some valuable items for your daughter, yourself, and maybe a friend or two. I already have!
I certainly will not be making a lot of money from my boutique, but that’s not why I began Matchless Beauty. You, your daughters, and my daughter are exactly who I prayed for and had in mind when the boutique opened. I’m happy to open it for you and to God’s glory. To go there, click here.
Let’s change the world!
Have you ever been to Hawaii? Sometimes I dream out loud about visiting Hawaii someday. All the exotic beauty, unique wildlife, and general splendor of the island would be unforgettable and life-changing. However, my palm tree and sandy beach musings are commonly followed by my daughter commenting she’d never want to go. Why? Because she won’t go anywhere near a volcano. And as much as I try to explain that fears shouldn’t keep us from experiencing something amazing like Hawaii, and reassure her of the awesome things that would await us there, she just won’t let it go. I long for her to see beyond the fear of the volcanoes to what she will be missing. It seems unreasonable to me when there’s so much more to experience there!
Fears keep us from experiencing God because all that we seem to focus on is the volcano. No matter how God shows us that trusting in Him and what He calls us to be will be rewarding, beautiful, and life-changing, too, that volcano keeps us right where we are, refusing to budge. I know because I’ve been there, too.
See, I do hope that my daughter will one day release her fear so we can experience Hawaii as a family, God willing. The truth is, I’m fully confident that if she were to go to Hawaii and look back on her experience (and her fear), she’d be so thankful she let go of her fear of volcanoes to go. I know that she’d think to herself “I may have been afraid, but I’m glad I trusted Mom to come. Otherwise I would have never experienced this.”
“I don’t struggle with perfectionism. I just have high standards.” Boy, have I thought that to myself too many times to count. Sometimes it was true, sometimes it wasn’t. Having high standards is great. It means we’re seeking to live up to our best potential and are encouraging others to do the same. Good stuff! But having perfection standards? Well, that’s a different story. Perfection standards are destructive, not only to ourselves but to those who share life with us. How? It’s just plain exhausting! When we’re striving for a perfection standard, we are reaching for something that was only reachable by Jesus. Not only that, but when we set impossible expectations for those around us, we drain them of hope and confidence and WE live graceless, ever-disappointed lives. It’s time to release ourselves from perfectionism and others of the perfectionist standards we have. It’s time we welcome more grace into our lives and embrace that we are each a matchless work in-progress. And once we admit God isn’t done working on us, what follows is that we become, not just a work in-progress, but a happy work in-progress! And who doesn’t want that? But first, let’s identify if you (or someone you may know) has high standards or perfection standards. Take a look at the chart below…
Maybe you’re in a season right now where you’re coming out of the need to be perfect and are learning how to be gracious with yourself and others. It feels good to release yourself of the burden to be Jesus, doesn’t it? After all, only HE can be perfect and any attempts to be Him and expect others to do so fall embarrassingly short! You’re probably experiencing a lot more joy and happiness than you have in awhile. You’re not doing it perfectly, but that’s the point. You’re a happy work in-progress!
And are you ready for the amazingly awesome, beautiful part about it? We don’t have to be disappointed that we and others aren’t perfect anymore because even in our imperfectness, God is working out the good in it. Check out what God’s Word says about it:
