A Perfect Profile

During a family vacation one summer at Niagara Falls, my mother had a sidewalk artist cut silhouettes of my sister and me. 

I was about seven and my sister was five. I remember watching the artist out of the corner of my eye, impressed with how fast he cut out the shape of my face. 

I’m not sure why my mother chose to have our silhouettes done that day because she fixed our hair exactly alike. We look practically identical. I’m not sure she even knows which silhouette is me and which one is my sister. 

She says since my hair was a little thicker than my sister’s, the bottom of my ponytail hair is thicker on paper. I'll take her word for it, but I’m not so sure. 

Those silhouettes hung on the wall of the house I grew up in, but now they adorn the walls of my house.

Silhouettes are meant to represent an exterior image of a person, but the interior of a silhouette is just a dark shadow. Without any definable features. 

I can illustrate my outside image with pearls and silvery jewelry, high heels and pencil skirts, red lipstick and Chanel bags. 

But I want the inside features of my life to be more than that. I want my life to be a representation of faith, hope and gratitude.

FAITH asks me to believe that God is working in my life even when I can’t see what's around the next corner. 

When I can't understand why what I’m going through is crucial to building my faith. 

It calls me to trust what I can’t make sense of right now, carry on even though I might not be able to unravel the reasons, and rely on God's promises to see me through. 

That strengthens my faith.

HOPE inspires me to expect the unexpected. 

To take a second look at the seemingly insignificant happenings in my day. 

To see God’s fingerprints in the occurrences of my life even when I can’t feel him. 

I can’t see the whole picture of my life with my limited perspective, but God can. And possibilities open right before my very eyes. 

That gives me hope.

GRATITUDE appeals to me to recognize God for who he is and what he is doing in my life despite the not-so-fine particulars of an everyday routine. 

Because when I thank God for what I have instead of looking over at a friend’s life to see what she has, I know it’s not about my circumstances. 

It’s about all that I’ve been blessed with. 

That makes me truly grateful.

I’m a girl who grew up in the church. Surrounded by others who were a lot like me. The path of my life has been pretty straight. But my life’s pathways always manage to intersect with those who are quite different from me. And that is good. 

My first job after college was at a daily newspaper in upstate New York. Not in the newsroom as I’d hoped using my journalism degree, but in the advertising sales department. 

I made a daily round of calls on businesses from greasy spoon diners to ladies’ dress shops to hardware stores. My colleagues were a varied and interesting group. 

On my first day, they all gathered in an empty cubicle for a smoke break. Since I didn’t smoke, I stayed at my desk, not sure if I should join them. 

But they called to me over the cubicles, “Hey! Are you a workaholic? Everybody takes a break.” 

So I rolled my chair over to sit with them while they smoked and talked. 

Every morning and afternoon, I sat primly in my chair at first, not saying much. 

But as I got to know them and learned about their families, I found they were a lot like me after all, hoping for a transfer into the newsroom someday. 

They just came from different paths and directions to get there. 

And we weren't so different after all. 

I want the shape of my life to look outward, not inward. 

Aspiring to be silhouetted in the shadow of God. 

Living a life outlined by the attributes of God. 

Tracing my steps in the contours of his love. 

I think that might be the perfect profile. For the shape of my life.