Too Beautiful to Bake

A very good friend and co-worker of mine once told me that I was too beautiful to stay home when I became a mother...(I'll give you a minute to stop laughing.)...Anyway, this dear friend of mine thought that it would be a waste to stay "locked away" from the world as a stay-at-home mom when I could be enjoying a career in front of the camera.  I think that her comment was meant to flatter me, but I also think she seriously thought that her words would sway me in her direction.

See these pumpkins?  They are called "Cinderella" pumpkins, and I think that they are beautiful.  I want to enjoy looking at them some more, but my children have been begging me to cut them up and bake them into pumpkin pie.  They seem to value what's inside this pumpkin and what it can become more than what it looks like on the outside at the moment.  Something inside me thinks that they might just be too beautiful to bake, but bake them, we will, and enjoy them we will--even more.

I received these pumpkins from my Mennonite friends.  I think that these friends of mine are absolutely beautiful.  I think that their whole way of life is beautiful as well.  They allowed me to take pictures of their family once a few years back, and I love looking at their smiling faces in those photos.  They shine from the inside out.  I wish I could show you the pictures that I took of them, because they would surely bring a smile to your face, but I promised that I wouldn't broadcast them across the internet.  Some of the most beautiful faces you will ever encounter in life will not be seen by the world.  They will remain private, but just as lovely...lovelier than...any face that appears in fashion magazines or on the big screen.

Would I be more beautiful today, if I had stayed in the workplace, chasing my dreams of a career in Television?  Certainly not.  For I would have missed out on the chance to be turned from something that sparkled on the outside, into something warm, sweet, and nourishing to the body and soul on the inside (obviously, I'm a work in progress...).  I also would have missed out on the faces and expressions of my children day in and day out whose smiles, countenances and true beauty are known only to me and to the Lord.  

I also would not be baking pumpkin pie right now, soaking in the beautiful revitalizing November sunshine, or enjoying the fruits of my "labors" so fully.


Thank goodness for Motherhood!

(On the other hand, I'd be much more aware of what day of the week it is.  I though it was Thursday all day yesterday...so the winner of our giveaway will be announced tomorrow...which is Friday....not today!)