Dorothy often made jokes about how she looked!  She didn’t like much about herself!  She was embarrassed about her hands.  She thought her whole body was fat and ugly!  She wasn’t proud of her nose and would often referred to it as her "Schnoz!" You would often hear her making jokes about herself like ...

"When God was handing out Noses - I thought He said Roses so I asked for a RED one!"
 
"When God was handing out Feet - I thought He said Sweets so I asked for two BIG ones!"

The Amazing Idea

One night while everyone was sleeping, sounds came from Dorothy’s room!  But it wasn’t Dorothy talking it was .... her BODY!  "Well, I'm tired of being insulted!" exclaimed Miss Hand.  "Imagine being called a 'Schnoz' all the time!" replied Nose.  "She doesn’t seem to understand that without me she wouldn’t be able to see at all!" added Eyes.  "You can’t hear her as well as we can!" said Ears, "We have always done our best for her and now all she cares about is how we LOOK and not what we DO for her!"

"Now, now!  Let’s all calm down and decide what we should do then,"responded Miss Lips, "I don’t think she has a nice thing to say about any of us!"  "That’s right, all we hear about is how embarrassed she is that we stink!" said a deep voice.  "Who said that?" asked Ears.

"Down here!" came the reply.  Everybody looked down at Feet.  "Did she say you stink?" asked Eyes, "I wonder if she knows it’s because of the silly shoes she wears?  "And what about me?" asked Thighs, "She called me 'Thunder Thighs' yesterday and hasn’t eaten anything for two days!  She really isn’t looking after us is she?"

Miss Lips suddenly had an idea: "Listen everybody, I have an amazing idea!  Okay, here’s the plan ....."  Everybody listened carefully.  They couldn’t wait till morning!  Dorothy was in for a big surprise!

I'm a Nightmare!

Next morning Dorothy woke up and wondered why she couldn’t see so well!  She rubbed her eyes but it didn’t help.  She sat up in bed and gave a yelp, "OUCH!"  It hurt to sit - it felt as if all her bones were sticking through her skin!  With that she got up and fell flat on her face!  "OUCH!"  Her feet just gave in as if they had no strength!  What was happening?  She looked back to her bed and her eyes nearly popped out ... for most of her hair was on the pillow!  She touched her head hoping to find more hair, but all she felt was smooth skin!  How could she go around bald?

This couldn’t be happening!  She crawled to the mirror where she had spent so many hours and gasped at what she saw - it came straight out of a horror movie!  Her ears had grown bigger than her face.  Her nose had disappeared and where were her lips?  "THIS CAN NOT BE HAPPENING!" she thought.  She closed her eyes and cried and cried!

She suddenly remembered that her teacher had once told her that God made us to look like Himself.  If we hate how we look we are insulting God!  She realized that she had made jokes about herself and she was hurting God!  She hadn't appreciated that she could see and hear and walk and talk!  She looked up to heaven and asked God to forgive her for not loving herself!

Lasting Beauty

Exhausted from this ordeal she fell asleep, but when she woke up she was in her bed!  She jumped up and ran to the mirror and gave a huge sigh of relief.  She didn’t know if she had dreamt or if it was real, but she was back to normal again!

She spoke to her Children's Church leader who explained to her that she should not depend on a fine hairstyle or fine clothes to make her beautiful.  She should rather have a gentle and quiet spirit in her heart as this gives lasting beauty and "is very precious to God"   (1 Peter 3:3-4).

"Don’t depend on a fine hairstyle or wearing gold jewels and fine clothes to make you beautiful.  Rather have lasting beauty in your heart from a gentle and quiet spirit and this is very precious to God" (1 Peter 3:3-4).

 
Copyright © 2003 Sharon Children's Ministries