Are you an apple or a banana?

I am grateful for this poem in two parts from Penny. It speaks to us all powerfully and gives us plenty to ponder today. Thank you Penny.

Are we happy with who we are? I remember that as a young child I wanted to look like, not be, Snow White. I longed to have creamy skin, brown almond eyes and little cherry-like lips with long flowing black hair. I wanted to be what I wasn't, and for me at that time the ideal was the Snow White look. As I grew up a little, I still always thought to have a deep creamy/ light brown complexion and skin tone with black hair would be great - a sort of Mediterranean look. My father had black hair and brown eyes, but whose skin tone was sallow. My Mother grey/blue eyes, bright complexion and mousy brown hair. I still wanted this perfect look. I was then ultra skinny, too thin and underweight and with a flat waist, which was the envy of all my friends. I still wanted the perfect facial look. I could never have it!

As I matured I always though black hair would be nice, but oh so draining and the rest I was stuck with! I could never be bothered to dye my hair as it would have to be kept up. My friends over the years have gone from blondes, to redheads and the occasional aqua or burgundy! I still wasn't satisfied with how I was. Are we ever satisfied? Long hair, short hair, punk look, what colour hair, eyes made up heavily or left naturally, perms. straighteners, long or short hair, bald? Make up to hide behind or bolster us? Make up to frighten others or to make us a rebel, or just to fit in? It is similar for boys and how many of you too experimented creating what you perceived to be the perfect you, staring back from the mirror?

I worked once with a girl who, behind her severe looks and fiecesome make-up, was lonely, always trying to be something but not herself. One Christmas Eve she was given a gift by some prestigious customers. She unwrapped it and there was a lemon. That is you she was told cheerfully, Merry Christmas! Sometimes others see us differently and they too form their own opinions, not stopping to think of the hurt and pain their actions might cause.

The point of all this is that, so often people aren't happy with how they are. This may be physical - I want red, curly hair, or may be psychological - I want to be popular, or even spiritual - I want to be more holy... and so on. I want to be an intellectual, I want to be rich, I want to be kinder, I want to be a better person etc.

We are what we are, and as we mature we change and develop. We mature we become more realistic and appreciate what we have and what we are. As we mature we can always improve ourselves, take up study, sport, good living etc. We are each unique and loved and cherished by God and our loved ones. None of us is perfect, but we do keep changing and growing through the aging process, through illness, through life, but we are still as created, a child of God.

So today celebrate who you are and how you are. Celebrate you are a child of God and loved so very much, as you are by family and friends, just as you are. Are you today an apple or a banana? Does it even matter?