1. Beautiful.. but not pretty

That's me... with the ashen cross still on me for'ead!

It's Lent again. It does that. Comes around every year. And me and R were a bit late in the day, looking for some inspiration for a creative journey in our neighbourhood. But suddenly her fella is tweeting a link to the You Are Beautiful video project. And I smiled. And cried. And was off donating money and ordering stickers... Only that was on Monday. And they're sending them from Chicago. And Lent starts today. So I spent a good part of yesterday designing a stop-gap sticker so that we can start stickering our neighbourhood one Lenten day at a time. Look out Clapton here we come.

And I thought I wouldn't blog about it. I'm blogging here at the moment about something totally different and it's all getting a bit out of hand. But then, something prompted me to scribe... tonight, in a small family-sized Ash Wednesday moment I was reminded that the liturgy the Lovely Chris put together for kids included these words:

I am sorry for my mistakes.
I know you love me Jesus.
You made me.
I am beautiful.
Help me love and care for each person here.
Amen.

They are words said together as the ash cross is made on the forehead. They are an approximation (and small kid-friendly version) of the more commonly used "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return". I thought I would use my first sticker, then, on the mirror in our lounge. To remind me that I am beautiful. You can't think anyone else is beautiful until you own your own beauty, right? It will be seen regularly this Lent by all our family and each visitor to our house.

And then, by sheer luck and internet surfing, I came across this slam poet, ripping to shreds the concept of 'pretty', on the Avaaz website. I guess that's part of what the guys at http://you-are-beautiful.com/ are trying to say. There is beauty in us all. Pretty doesn't even come close.