Five Freckles and a Dimple
Don’t you just love dimples?? And when you see a cute face with a sprinkle of freckles across the nose and cheeks…it makes you smile! Have you ever had something that you personally were not fond of but everyone who saw it thought it was the most amazing thing to ever have? We have all been there. But the difference is, when you personally have to deal with that ‘thing” it no longer becomes cool or cute. For instance, take having curly hair. All the straight-haired folk are praying for just one curl, while the ones with the curls do everything they can to have straight hair. It never fails. We always want what we can’t have, but we never realize what it took to get that one thing. This is very true when it comes to the calling on our lives. We see people who have a calling on their lives and an anointing that creates opportunity, room for their gifts and favor, and we sometimes find ourselves envious or even jealous of what they have been given.
The things we fail to see while recognizing the amazing traits a person may have are their “five freckles and a dimple.”
First, let me explain my fascination with freckles and dimples. I have grown up with a mother and a father who have dimples so deep that you could hide things inside of them due to how big they are. As far as freckles, I grew up with my grandfather, my aunts and other relatives who had freckles and I loved them! I remember wanting to have dimples and freckles because I thought they were AMAZING! It was only until I reached adulthood that I realized that A) I have both freckles and a dimple, and B) these were both considered an imperfection, a defect, if you will. A dimple is known as a small natural indentation in the flesh; a genetic default that is a divide in the muscle that is caused by a shortened facial muscle; a deformity. Freckles are skin cells that contain melanin that helps to protect the skin from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays by reflecting or absorbing them. Freckles are triggered by the exposure to sunlight. For freckled faces, sometimes they are frowned upon as imperfections, when in actuality they are a layer of protection that is only amplified by the very thing that is sent to be harmful. Dimples, a true defect, are seen as amazingly cute features, albeit absolute deformities. But we see them as character features, not flaws. We see them as special and unique because everyone doesn’t have them…the defects are made strong because of their rarity. I have found that as I age, I have inherited one dimple that I love so much. I have also inherited about five freckles that are as cute as buttons. I wouldn’t trade them for anything. That is all because I have learned to embrace the purpose of these two things that I have longed for and seen passed down through generations of both sides of my families.
So, get this. When we see those things in others that we long to have, we always must be mindful of the things they have had to go through to get them. We never know the cost of a calling, or the cost of an anointing on a person’s life. Spiritually, we don’t see the development of another person’s “freckles”; those spots placed on their lives as protection from harmful things. The “freckles” on their lives that are birthed due to situations and the need for protection either by reflecting or absorbing the rays of life’s trials. We sometimes forget about the very thing that was meant to be a defect in their life, a generational deformity. This is seen as a beautiful feature that they have turned around for their good. The thing that was meant to be less than “regular” was made into a beautiful rarity that others find desirable. We tend to overlook the cost of having our "five freckles and a dimple". We forget to see behind the surface and realize that these things take time to develop. These things take strength to carry, and sometimes the calling and the very features that make us beautifully different, begin in ways we would never imagine. God lets us know in Jeremiah 1: 5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. God knew what we were made to do. Regardless of our self-proclaimed flaws, we must remember that we all have the proverbial “five freckles and a dimple”. For everything that we may not like, there is a person who would do anything to have it. So embrace what you are given and make the best of it. No matter where in the process of life you receive your “mark,” love it. Take care of it and use it to the best of it’s potential. Your flaws may be your protection and your trademark. Use them to create your own legacy of beauty.