Renaissance Beauty

1778190_76_zIt was a long, dreadful ride into the city. Unloading the car was a difficult task, and rolling the cart full of books across the massive exhibit hall to find our table was rather daunting, so when I hit a bump on the ramp and spilled my careful packed goods, I nearly lost all emotional strength. Instead, as I’m sure you would, I mustered up a chuckle, re-stacked my cart and continued to set up our book display. Being a “vendor” was out of my comfort zone, but I was determined to follow through on my commitment.

“There, it’s done! Now we have time for a nice dinner on the town.” My girlfriend and I said as we headed back to the car to find it was not only dark and rainy, it was now rush hour in a city neither of us cape cod girls were comfortable navigating without our husbands. “Perhaps our hotel will have a nice restaurant,” we thought as we tried to keep each other’s spirits up. “Tomorrow will be a full day, with 11 hours on our feet talking to 10,000 women, I’m not sure I have the strength to go out in this chaos again; we should probably turn in early anyway.” Feeling a little disappointed that our plans weren’t going to be as exciting as we had thought, we fought our way to the hotel.

Worn out, wet and wary, we enter into the beautiful Boston Renaissance lobby and all the stress melted away. “Ahh, we made it.” Our work was done and now we could relax and enjoy a time of peace and rest before doing it all over again in the morning.

As Americans, we tend to have overbooked schedules and overwhelmed lives–especially at Christmas time when we add cooking, shopping, programs and parties. Personally, before my experience at the Mass Conference for Women, I was feeling as though taking the time to decorate my home was a bit trivial. But after my “ahh experience,” I am reminded of how important it is to make my home a place of refuge for my family and myself.

Beauty does that.

No matter how busy life is right now, I want my home and heart to be like a renaissance–a safe and peaceful place of revival for those around me, don’t you? This season, let’s not only deck the halls, let us also wear an attitude of celebration so that those around us will experience an “ahh” moment that melts away their stress and gives them (and us) the strength to face another day.

*****

Catrina Welch is an inspirational author and speaker whose personal experience with overcoming rejection, betrayal and loss–as well as her expertise as a cosmetologist, image consultant and Biblical life-coach–is empowering women to BE and LET BE.

Her latest book, CONFIDENT BEAUTY: Reflecting the One Who Made You, with the Images in your Mirror and in your Soul, is now available in your favorite bookstores. Autographed copies of all her books are available on her website at www.CatrinaWelch.com


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