Sunday, December 9, 2007
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
beauty's not always vain
I rejoice in the fact that, despite what I often believe, my Father knows every single physical and spiritual detail about me, and still thinks I am precious. According to Psalm 139, I am marvelously made.
I love to watch little girls dance in front of the mirror. Twirling around in dress-up clothes, they have confidence in their beauty. In fact, they know this much better than any adult female; they have not yet been tainted by a society that boasts an unnatural, unattainable picture of what a woman should be. They hopefully have not yet been told they are not good enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough. They haven't bought into the evils of comparing themselves to not only the "perfect 10" woman, but to their friends. They have most likely heard their daddies tell them that they are beautiful, and they don't question it. And though we're not born knowing Jesus Christ, I believe that because we're His creations, we have a certain amount of innate confidence in knowing we are masterpieces of the Creator--confidence that gives way to believing we are beautiful, and confidence that allows us to twirl in front of the mirror without shame. Unfortunately, our views of ourselves change as we get older, and we lose sight of our God-given beauty.
It breaks my heart to know that so many women--myself included--have bought into the lies that the world has fed us and continues to feed us on a daily basis. This video is an amazing song by Bethany Dillon about the desire to see ourselves as beautiful--just as Christ sees us. Him in us makes our spirits beautiful, but as I heard at a women's fellowship recently, our outward "frame" is meant to compliment our inner "picture." In other words, our outer appearance is lovely, too, just because God made it! Ladies, God the King is enthralled by our beauty! We are precious in His sight! We've been tenderly and wonderfully made in the image of God Himself! These are the truths I want to reflect on. As Christ's beloved, I am beautiful. The lies of the enemy---unfortunately what I so often choose to believe--are what's ugly.
Lord, take my heart back to the little girl twirling in the mirror who knows without a doubt she is beautiful.
I love to watch little girls dance in front of the mirror. Twirling around in dress-up clothes, they have confidence in their beauty. In fact, they know this much better than any adult female; they have not yet been tainted by a society that boasts an unnatural, unattainable picture of what a woman should be. They hopefully have not yet been told they are not good enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough. They haven't bought into the evils of comparing themselves to not only the "perfect 10" woman, but to their friends. They have most likely heard their daddies tell them that they are beautiful, and they don't question it. And though we're not born knowing Jesus Christ, I believe that because we're His creations, we have a certain amount of innate confidence in knowing we are masterpieces of the Creator--confidence that gives way to believing we are beautiful, and confidence that allows us to twirl in front of the mirror without shame. Unfortunately, our views of ourselves change as we get older, and we lose sight of our God-given beauty.
It breaks my heart to know that so many women--myself included--have bought into the lies that the world has fed us and continues to feed us on a daily basis. This video is an amazing song by Bethany Dillon about the desire to see ourselves as beautiful--just as Christ sees us. Him in us makes our spirits beautiful, but as I heard at a women's fellowship recently, our outward "frame" is meant to compliment our inner "picture." In other words, our outer appearance is lovely, too, just because God made it! Ladies, God the King is enthralled by our beauty! We are precious in His sight! We've been tenderly and wonderfully made in the image of God Himself! These are the truths I want to reflect on. As Christ's beloved, I am beautiful. The lies of the enemy---unfortunately what I so often choose to believe--are what's ugly.
Lord, take my heart back to the little girl twirling in the mirror who knows without a doubt she is beautiful.
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