I
You are
beautiful--
not because
of your words
or eye shadow,
not because
of the way
you cover or
show yourself
off.

You, my
dear, are
beautiful
because God
made you--
and no matter
how much you
sin or *****
up or what you
love, you can
not stamp out the
seal of the
Creator on
your soul.

Don't destroy
yourself to
be abandoned
in the powerlessness
of chaos--existence
is from God
and we cannot
extinguish it
no matter how
hard we try
so why don't you
take ownership
of the love He's
been offering
you all these
years?

    II
What is so
scary about
Your love--that
we can be
consumed by
it only to
find that in
it is as river
you cannot
drown in
but only grow
in and wonder
how you ever
survived before?

You love us.

You love us,
what more
profound thing
could we ask
for--that the
Lord lavishes
His affection
on dust that
can do nothing
for Him but
everything with
Him.

    III
If you are
ever worried
about how
you treat people--
about the time
you yelled at
your sister
or mother--
you are not
vicious.

If you have
ever loved
someone selflessly,
but with a
few mistakes--
you are not
evil.

If you have
ever seen the
unkindness and
selfishness rooted
in your heart
and been worried,
you are not
hopeless.

Jesus came
and separated
our oil sins to
make our souls
pure so the
Holy Spirit
would not
choke in us.

    IV
He lightens
our darkness
and saves us
from Satan's
hands that
crawl up out of
our hearts to
choke us with
lust, greed, and
other wants that
sting our throats
and make us
drink the black
liquor again
because it looks
so good.

He make us
beautiful
again.

He makes you
beautiful again.

    V**
We are polaroids
thrown in acid
that our own
minds created
and stewed
willfully--

But God,
He rips us out
of our own
destruction and
restores us to
the 3D master-
pieces we are
designed to
be.

All because
He loves,
All because
He loves us.

Amen.