This weekend I was with friends. It came up that some of these gorgeous women don’t even consider themselves beautiful. They even go to far as to find themselves repulsive. The only thing repulsive is that they don’t know they are beautiful.
All of the people I know are beautiful. All of the people I don’t know are beautiful. God created them, and all God touches is beautiful. Therefore, they are beautiful. (Okay, that’s a little over-zealous. There are people I don’t find beautiful, for example, mean people. But right now, I don’t have any mean people in my life. I hope it stays that way!)
I wonder how much of their feelings about beauty come from television, magazines, and glamour shots? That’s not human beauty, that’s technology: photo editing software, clothes that highlight certain aspects, make-up, and more. It is NOT what makes a person beautiful. That is merely technology.
Real beauty radiates from the inside. All of the beautiful people I know have something that shines from the inside out. Therefore, no matter what these people wear, make-up they select, or hair style they opt for, their beauty glows through to the outside. Just like the image below. It’s not perfectly clear, but I can see the beauty in it.
These women I was with are mostly of a healthy weight. Yet, one thought she was fat. Trust me, I know fat! And she’s not it. Another thought her bone structure did not allow her to wear a bikini. A bikini body is one that is in a bikini. Another thinks her chest is too small, so she’s not beautiful. But her personality is so feminine, a larger bosom would deter from her elegance.
If we’re talking physical beauty, falling into a certain weight category, having delicate feet, and the in hairstyle, then I would be the least beautiful in the room. But I have learned that is NOT beauty. Yes, I’m overweight – that is a health issue, not a beauty issue. No, I don’t wear make-up – it makes my face itch. I also have fat and wide feet, gapey teeth, and man bones (no skinny fingers even when I was skinny).
Yet this I know: I am beautiful. Perhaps it’s because I know that God made me in love, by love, and for love (as our pastor reminds us continually – or is that nagging – no matter, because he’s right). Or maybe it’s because I blame my weight on medications and not the over-eating that I sometimes do (never-you-mind my love of carbs). Perhaps it’s because my dad had gapey teeth, and I loved my dad. The reason isn’t important (or is it?), I know in my heart of hearts that I am beautiful. I also know that you are beautiful, and you are beautiful, and you, hiding in the dark corner, you are beautiful!
Morale of the Story: Please! Learn to know what beauty is. Look. In. The. Mirror! If that isn’t beautiful, then there is none.
Humor Happens 