What If...We Wrote A Book?

The Question:

What do you get when you gather Ten Women pondering the Ten Commandments for a period of Ten Weeks?

The Answer:

The first collaborative book project of the Pink Collar Club.

Yep. You read it right. The Pink Collar Club publishes our first book ever! And not without the total commitment of 10 women writers not to mention the fabulous Anne Goodrich who tirelessly perfected the graphics and layout for Mirror, Mirror...On The Wall. It's stunning, isn't it? (Thank you, my friend. What more can I say?)

The seed for Mirror, Mirror...On The Wall was planted back in December 2006 but the original intention for the content of this book was NOT the Ten Commandments but rather reflecting the promises of God. As the matter of fact, I told the story of exactly how Mirror, Mirror...On The Wall came to be in the introduction of the book. (I also recorded it and posted it on the Pink Collar Club website. Maybe you'll listen?)

But the "real meat" of the book comes from 10 women who openly (and creatively) shared from the heart the meaning of each commandment personally. But don't look for a dry read. Oh, no. We have Penney who compares each commandment to a 1970s song, Anne who wrote some beautiful poetry, Lynn included "tips" in each of her writings and so much more. How's that for creativity?

I must say that one of the biggest perks of writing a book like this lies in the personal blessings bestowed upon the writers. God used this book to touch the lives of each of us and I believe He will use it to touch the lives of the readers as well. I really do.

So...today is a day of celebration. And, it's also my birthday. Let's celebrate!

What If...We Wrote A Book?

Well, we did!

What if…we knew that we are created beautiful

As a little girl with color I grew up in a world where my beauty was disallowed. My dark skin, my hips, my lips, my hair – were not seen as signs of beauty.

I remember that as a child my father would set apart a monthly sum from his scanty minister’s salary to purchase Ebony magazine. As the father of two black girls he understood the importance of developing a healthy self-concept, particularly in the times we lived in. Thus, he made sure that we were exposed to identifiable and positive images of beauty.

My sister and I would spend hours captivated by the beautiful pictures of those brown-skinned beauties. These women were really not new to our reality, they looked like our Mommy, our aunties, the ladies at church. Nevertheless, they were Women whose beauty we very rarely saw “positively” displayed on TV and in other magazines.

Twenty-something years later, when images of beauty are supposedly global, I find it disturbing that little girls of color are still experiencing the same type of beauty disallowance. While they might have more exposure to their types of beauty than I ever had, there is some unsettling distortion to the exposure.

While their “brownness” to a certain extent is “acceptable”, there is still the societal perception that to be considered beautiful, their type of beauty must somehow be re-arranged fit into an already pre-defined beauty box.

I think that something is wrong with a world where people find the need to constantly re-create themselves to fit certain man-made and partial beauty standards. I think that something is wrong with a world where uniqueness is not celebrated, and instead beauty is fixed to fit certain arranged standards. Perhaps its time that we each take a hard look at our personal definitions of beauty.

There is nothing wrong in admiring and celebrating outward appearance, it is part of the unique package our creator gave to us as humans. There is a problem, however, when we use our own sinful definitions of what beauty is to tell God, ”You made a mistake with me, or with certain people.” And then, we find it necessary to change and re-create God’s creative palette of beauty. This notion that God made a mistake with our beauty has lead women to become vain, capricious, catty and prejudiced.

What if we were to believe His word? What if we were to believe that He made us “fearfully and wonderfully” (Psalms139:14)? If we were to believe, then we would understand that we are already beautiful.

Note: To see the effect that societal definitions of beauty have on children of color click on this link 4realwomen.com - Film: A Girl Like Me