Monday, November 14, 2011

Beauty


I spent five weeks in a third-world country without a mirror once.  It was one of the most liberating experiences I have ever had.  It's funny how your perspective changes when you don't have one of those reflective surfaces staring you down at every turn.  It's funny how you are suddenly able to think about things that matter infinitely more.

You are beautiful.  Just as you are.  Can you hear me?  You have devoted too much of your time thinking of ways to better your physical appearance.  You have reserved a large part of your conscious mind to being conscious of yourself.  You have believed a lie.

How do I know this?  Because I too have believed a lie.  It is devious in it's play.  It hides itself by making itself obvious.  Books, magazine articles, talk shows; they have all talked about the lie so much that we think we understand it.  But we don't.

We have over-talked and over-analyzed the concept of "inner beauty" and "social stereotypes".  They are such common topics that we no longer see them as relevant.  But they are relevant, aren't they?

We justify crash-dieting and starvation, eating disorders and obsession, by saying we are "just concerned with our health."  But that is a lie.  And as long as we are selling that lie, we will be in the dark.

The truth is, none of it will ever make a difference.  You will be a slave to a mould that was fashioned by someone who hates you violently.  Do you hear me?  There is an enemy who hates you and he is the one who has fashioned the mould for you and deceived you into believing that the only way for you to be beautiful - the only way for you to be happy - the only way for you to be of value - is to squeeze yourself into it.

But he doesn't play fair.  He shrinks the mould and distorts your view.  It won't work.

You feed the lie when you believe it and play by it's rules.  It's time to lay down your game pieces.  It's time to get up from the table and walk out of the room.  It's time to walk outside into the light and the clean air and find out who you really are.

And the truth is, the only way you will ever know just how precious - just how radiant and lovely you are - is by looking in the face of the One who created you and loves you more passionately than you could imagine.  Go ahead.  I dare you.  Imagine.

Try to imagine, just for a moment, that there really is a God who made you, who is close to you, pursuing your heart.  Try to imagine that He loves you with such furious passion that He would do anything to rescue you from your pain.

Even the most wild imagination can't touch the intensity of His love.  You can't conceive of it.  But you can taste it.  And it will forever change you.


4 comments:

  1. Well said sister. I feel like Papa is saying that the mould is fashioned with fear. Fear of rejection, fear of judgement, fear of shame - when it comes down to it, fear of being alone. I got a picture of myself as a bird in a cage, that Papa had opened the door but I was too afraid to leave the safety of the cage - I was afraid that I could no longer fly. The enemy can't keep us caged, we cage ourselves, until we burst free from his trap and release ourselfs to be who we are meant to be; from Muchafraid to Unafraid!

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  2. Absolutely. Just this morning, I was talking to Promise and Hope about fear and along the lines of this topic. It has been so heartbreaking listening to my little girl struggle through self-consciousness and seeing her little face when she sneaks in to use the bathroom scale. I want to smash it to smithereens!

    But I know that we each must face this monster alone, with Him. Otherwise we will not own our own beauty. I just hope that I can help her to somehow see what He sees. What I see.

    J.

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  3. I'm blessed that I don't have girls to struggle with over this. I hope beyond HOPE that I can teach my boys that everyone is beautiful - not just ones that "match" the marketplace ideal (which is essentially impossible anyway!)

    I personally fluctuate heavily between total satisfaction with who I am on the outside balancing with the me on the inside and total disgust with who I am reflected in the mirror. I wish the swings wouldn't be so frequent.

    Me w/o a mirror, w/o outside conversation to better myself, etc is a much happier me.

    to my beautiful nieces. <3

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  4. Thanks, Lisa *tear*
    . . . And I believe we are at the dawn of a new awakening - what my sister Julie calls God "changing the face of beauty." An exciting time to be alive!
    J.

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