All Dolled Up

Hi friends, Moe here. A number of years ago, our ladies at church planned and carried out our annual Saturday afternoon Mother’s Day tea for ladies, both young and old.  The theme that year was one that is near and dear to my heart – Dolls.  Like most little girls, dolls were a HUGE part of growing up at our house.  My 2 sisters and I loved our dolls so much and don’t tell him I told you, but one of our brothers liked playing with them too!

The exact theme for this special day was “All Dolled Up”.  Little girls got to come in and go over to the life size doll house and make their very own paper doll to take home. Remember paper dolls?  I loved them! Little girls today would find

After singing a few songs our special speaker for the afternoon was the multi-talented and beautiful Joy Miller who related our lives as a Christian woman to the different types of dolls.  Her talk was great, and the funny thing is, I had written a script for several of us to act out which was geared to the younger ladies in attendance. Some of the things I put in my script Joy brought out in her talk. It was almost as if we had gotten together and planned it that way, but trust me, we didn’t. Besides, if you know me, you know that pre-planning anything is NOT one of my strong suits. I find life much more thrilling when I fly by the seat of my pants (or pantaloons, in this case.)

After the event was over and I was driving home with my very own seventeen year old Barbie doll (my daughter Lindsey, pictured below), I began thinking about a few things that I wanted to share.

Most Christian women can probably relate themselves to some type of doll.  For instance, we may be a Barbie doll Christian who is overly concerned about material things like our appearance and possessions, never really getting past the superficial to the “real” person underneath. We focus more on having that Barbie Dreamhouse or fashionable clothes, shoes and cars – the luxuries of life, rather than seeking spiritual things. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that God wants us to be real and look to things above, not on earth.  (2 Corinthians 5:1-5)

Another doll many of us can relate to is that of the Rag Doll.

If we have a ragdoll mentality, perhaps we are not valuing ourselves as we should.  Ragdolls generally are the ones wagged around by their owners, hair unkempt, clothes soiled, tattered and torn.  Many times, life causes us to become like the ragdoll and we are made to feel less beautiful, or less talented, or less precious than other women we see around us. We may even compare ourselves to the Barbie dolls around us, longing for those long shapely legs and pretty figures. (Shoot, I would settle for just the ability to walk in those heels like Barbie does!) All I can say is “RAGDOLLS of the world UNITE” and just know that we are precious to God!  He loves us with all our belly rolls, bumps, bruises, scrapes and scars.  And as for that dirty smock we wear, he can clean us up and cleanse us like no laundry mat or dry cleaner could ever do! I think we all can relate to the ragdoll.

Remember the “Chatty Cathy” Doll?  My sister Pam had one when we were little.  

We sure loved that doll. Hmm, I believe I know a few “Chatty Cathy” types, don’t you?  You know the ones that talk, talk, talk, talk, all the time?  You don’t even have to pull their string to get a big ol’ serving of their thoughts and ideas and usually, they are so much smarter and better than my own it makes me just clam up.  (Sometimes I make myself like a paper doll where I just slide up under something and disappear when there’s a Chatty Cathy in the room.)  I had a schoolteacher that told us “You learn more from listening than you ever will from hearing yourself talk.”  The book of Proverbs also tells us that “He who has knowledge, spares his words…”  

One of my favorite dolls is the baby doll.  I loved cuddling them, putting them in my toy stroller, changing their little diapers and feeding them their magic bottles. (You know the ones that the milk disappeared when you tilted the bottle up? I never figured out how those silly things worked!)  But as much as I loved my baby dolls, I don’t think I want to be a grown-up version of my cherished baby dolls.  I pray I won’t whine when things don’t go my way or constantly complain about things, having to be babied all the time.  I am a much stronger woman of God than that, aren’t you?  

In closing, my doll-friends, please remember that you are a precious, creation of the Almighty God, creator of the universe!  He loves you with all your imperfections and has the awesome ability to clean you up, dress you up in His royal garments and give you a seat at His royal table.  Not too bad for a ragdoll, huh?

I guess you can tell that I really enjoyed our doll-themed event, and I can’t wait until the next one.  Hey, maybe we’ll have a pirate theme!  Argh Mateys!  Batten down the hatches, shiver me timbers and all that stuff!   Until next time! – Moe