To the Beautiful

This one goes out to the women who do not believe they are beautiful. To the women who look in the mirror and see everything wrong with their bodies and faces. To the women who hear the words "You are lovely" and consider it mockery. 

You are not alone. 

It is a shameful thing how we cannot see ourselves as worthy. I find it heart jerking to hear incredible women and girls tear themselves apart imperfection by imperfection, until only a hollow shell remains. 

We long to know the satisfaction of a beautiful and slender body, but all the while will be starving our souls. We treat them as pocket change for an idea that no artist has created nor writer has imagined. We wallow in self pity, mourning over such an impossible ideal as beauty.

"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised" (Proverbs 31:30)

Why is it so crazy for those of us who struggle with weight, self image, and self control to admit to ourselves that we are fearfully and wonderfully made? Why can we not hear the words "Beloved, you are beautiful" and believe them? 

When will our eyes be opened to the knowledge that each chiding, sly, and pessimistic remark or thought about our bodies is an insult towards God? Every single time we call ourselves ugly, fat, worthless, disgusting, stupid, imperfect, and unlovable we are not only labeling ourselves as these, but are labeling the One Most Powerful God of the universe the same. 

We believe that God is perfect, but if God is perfect then He can only create perfection. All God is, was, and is to be is perfection. Which makes us...? You know how the rest goes. You know the answer. Who are to say we believe in God's goodness and yet live in the shadow of hypocrisy as we doubt our own existence? God Does Not Make Junk. God does not mess up. You are not the exception, the mistake. You are perfectly made.

There is a great big Daddy up in heaven looking down at all of us whispering, speaking, calling, crying out "You are my beloved! And this, this is what makes you beautiful". 

Forget the extra pounds. Forget the awkward curves, the frizzy hair, the uneven eyes, the freckles, the pants size, the wrinkles, the scars--forget them. God does not see them and those that matter will not either. The world has never been impressed by beauty for long. Even the seven wonders of the world cannot remain constant by the world's standards! 

But you, my dear sisters, are immaculate. 

Look in the mirror and see the love of Christ reflected back to you. Whisper truth to yourself and allow your heart to believe it.

We are,  you are incredibly, powerfully, indescribably, marvelously, dazzlingly, delicately, exquisitely, radiantly... beautifully... you.

God bless you. Go in peace.

~Carissa