Ugly Doll

I wrote this several years back when my granddaughter was a toddler. 

My granddaughter’s has a doll that we call the “ugly baby doll.”  It’s clothes were taken off repeatedly until we gave up trying to keep them on.  It is filthy and stained though we have tried to clean it.  It has several different pen applied hair dos and tattoos. It is definitely ugly.  She always wants to take it with us but I am often embarrassed for others to see it.  

This morning she wanted to bring it to church, but I put a prettier baby in her backpack and left this one in a heap on the floor. She didn’t touch the pretty baby doll during church at all. She didn't care anything about it.

When we returned from church, she found her ugly baby. She held it and sang as she rocked it.  She talked to it and cuddled it up in a towel for a blanket. I turned from cutting up veggies for Sunday lunch and smiled as I saw her singing and cooing to her baby. 

Then the thoughts began forming in my mind. It isn’t really an “ugly baby.” It’s a very loved baby.  It is a cherished baby.  And then I thought, I am one of those “ugly babies.” I have been stained and tattered. Others have drawn on me. I have been beaten on by the world and sometimes feel like I have been left in a heap. At times I have felt like I have been stripped of my dignity and left naked before the world.

But, then I come to Jesus and He picks me up. He holds me in his arms, sees past the ugliness, and just loves me. He washes me clean and sees me with His eyes of love. It is His love that transforms me into something beautiful.

We are all ugly babies at times. But, when we relinquish ourselves to the arms of our Master, He transforms us into His lovely creations.