More on Beauty

At the end of last week I sat down, as always with delight and anticipation, to read Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama so see what she had in store for us for our Five Minute Friday.

I read the topic, and my heart skipped a beat.

Beauty.

Gulp.

What if I don’t consider myself beautiful? What if I’ve bought into the culture and peer pressure and magazine ads and clothing store displays and just know and recognize and accept that I’m just not beautiful, not in the everyday sense of the word?

Ow. That hurts.

What if, instead, I throw off the chains of that kind of thinking, and see myself for who I really am, that I am a child of God, that I am beautiful in His sight, and deeply loved by Him?

What if, instead, I see myself through the eyes of those in this world-my dear hubbie, my children, my extended family-who love me for who I am?

When I truly stop and sit, and even try to imagine what it is like to see me through their eyes, I am absolutely overwhelmed by the emotion and the love I feel from them. I am almost ashamed to say that I have felt less than beautiful, less than worthy, when looking through my own eyes.

So, I work on it, just like all the other flaws in my life.

Step by step, day by day.

And I work on being more accepting of who I am and the person that God made me to be.

Now, that was not the thought process that came to me Friday morning. This is what appeared through the tapping on my keyboard: Five Minute Friday: Beauty

Yesterday, though, I read the follow-up that Lisa-Jo posted regarding beauty: Ask 100 women if they think they’re beautiful and this is what they say.

She quotes some of the responses to her Friday prompt, and they took my breath away. Here are just a couple of the ones I really enjoyed.

Am I beautiful?

I ask it to the constellations scattered over the humming wild night. I ask it to the strangers who smile at me in the airport as I wait for my flight to help my beautiful friend get married this weekend. I wonder it silently in my eyes and in my heart, and I look in the mirror so curious about that girl who looks back at me.

Beauty is flinging wide the doors of your heart, no matter the past hurt and the past confusion, no matter if the question lingers late in the afternoon or if you don’t think you’ll ever get an answer.

And so my heart’s wide open. ~Hilary

 

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been good at finding beauty.  It’s when I turn my gaze on myself that the trouble comes. All through my childhood, teens and early twenties, I was convinced that I was ugly. When I look at pictures of myself from those times, I’m amazed that I felt so horrible. I see a girl who may not be conventionally beautiful, sure, but whose smile is warm, hair is glossy, eyes are bright. I want to call her and tell her she’s pretty. ~Claire

 

I want to call her and tell her she’s pretty.

That just strikes at my heart.

How many of us would share that comforting message, and other pearls of knowledge, with our younger selves, now that we are older and wiser?

I encourage you to go read the whole post for a gentle, welcoming and refreshing view of beauty.

Have a blessed day, ladies.