Beautiful Baby (Month Eight)

My beautiful 8-month-old smiling at Nana

Mercy,

You are a beautiful baby. It's a biased opinion that I have no shame admitting. Others often comment on your beautiful eyes. They are large, expressive and a steely shade of blue. Not to mention the long lashes you inherited from your dad. I admit I've taken dozens of photos of your lashes while you sleep. I'm not alone in my opinion. Strangers often gush over you, too. And, the flirt that you are, you smile and promptly — bashfully — burry your face into my shoulder.

But, as our dear friend Dee Bigfoot said, good looks are "just the bling." It is undoubtedly fun to be physically beautiful, but child, don't you ever let it define who you are on the inside. True beauty is derived from gratitude, faith, integrity, virtue, good works, knowledge, devotion to the gospel and finding true joy in the journey. True beauty is being a "light of the world" and letting "your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16)

Your great-great-grandma Kora Helquist has been recorded reminding her children to "remember who you are." I can still hear my own mother urgently reminding me the same thing. And I have no doubt you will hear that phrase pass from my lips more then once. It is easy to get caught up by defining ourselves by the world's standards — by beauty, by accomplishments, by status, by relationships. Those things can be good, but the best way to define ourselves is by our divine identities as daughters of God. If you remember who you are, you will not stray from the values that make you beautiful from the inside out. 

To me, you are most beautiful because you are joyful, peaceful, tenacious, curious and loving. Always remember who you are, baby girl: You are beautiful because you are divine. I love you.

Always,
Mama