Beautiful

She cringed as I pulled out the camera. When I aimed it at her she cried "please don't, I'm ugly!" What brokenness, what hurt, what horrendous lies!

She is beautiful. Her eyes so expressive, her smile perfect and her hair completely hiding her from the world around her. I wonder to myself... who told her these lies, who made her believe that she was/is ugly?

When I look in the mirror I see a lot of things- a fat body completely without proper form and lots of areas of imperfection - yet I also see things of beauty. Now don't think me vain, but I see that my eyes are dark and beautiful. I see that my eyelashes- even without makeup are so long that they are constantly touching my glasses... I see my high cheekbones and my really pretty smile. I even like my funky little nose... I forget though that I like these things and I see only the fat or the imperfections.... just like this young woman.

When I was younger I was told by people around me that I was ugly... and they called me ugly names too. I was told lies and I believed them. I still sometimes feel ugly, and I hate the camera as much as she does.... but that does not make those lies true! Lies are present everywhere and I know that one of the places it is most prevalent, is in the minds of our young ones. They are being taught that to be beautiful you have to be a certain shape, size, color, and make, as if we were patterns or framed art work in a museum gift shop.

I believe God when he said things like "He makes all things beautiful."(Eccl. 3:11), I believe God that "I am fearfully and wonderfully made"(Ps. 139:14), I believe God that I am "His creation"(Mark 10:6), and I believe him that I am "Made in His image"(Gen. 1:27). You want to know the reason for my ability to accept who I am and where I am in life? Because I believe the Bible is true in every last word... and if it is- then there isn't one word in there about God making ugly things. So therefore- I AM NOT UGLY and NEITHER ARE YOU!

So, tell me something... who makes the rules of beauty? Who gets to govern who is and isn't beautiful? And why do we believe them anyway? What gives them that power? If we believe the world around us, and give them power to determine how we feel about ourselves - aren't we saying in one form or another that God is lying?

Beauty defined by the dictionary is- the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else.

Beauty defined in the Word of God is- well, I can only find one definition of what beauty is in the Bible... and that is vain and deceitful (Prov. 31:30). That's right... no definition of anything other than this. So if the Bible/ God has no other words for it then why do we put such a high price on it?

I don't think that God really takes much stock in the beauty of man. If it's not God who sets the standards for beauty then who are we giving that much power to? Young women are told from childhood that beauty is what the world says... thin and perfect, without blemish or fault. For girls it would be a size 2 or less body, no matter how tall or how you are built. And a person without these features and not perfect are not beautiful. What's worse is we aren't just teaching the women these things but we are also teaching the young men too!

When are we (society) going to teach them that perfection is not reality, that God makes man, but man makes their own version of perfection. In other words... FAKE! What happened to teaching them about how God lovingly formed them in their mother's womb. (Ps. 139) Or how he counts the hairs on our head(Matt. 10:30), or how he collects the tears that you cry (Ps. 56:8) all because he lovingly created you and loves you!

God doesn't make fake, he doesn't make ugly and he certainly doesn't make mistakes. He is perfect in every form... the only true and perfect thing in the universe. The world since Adam and Eve is not perfect (Rom. 5:18-20)... and man is anything but perfect. So why is there such a high price on illusion?

I believe with all my heart that women today, and I don't mean just the young ones, need to be told and retold the TRUTH! I know that the society of the world (Fashion magazines, models, movies, TV, etc) has told us that perfection is an achievement. Well, not one person has gotten there yet- and they won't until the return of our Jesus. Truth is - if you want perfection, you have to pay for it... and even then you will find something else you don't like.

I told that young one that night that there are always things that you like about yourself. So go stand in front of a mirror... and find 3 things that you like about yourself. Learn to love the unchangeable (without drastic measures) and for those things that you don't like that are changeable- change them. (like weight) Our God created you that way on PURPOSE, for a PURPOSE (Jer. 29:11) and He loves what He has created(Jer.31:3). So do I.