We want brown hair. No wait, we want blond hair. Our freckles are too many. Do we even see skin? Our skin is too light. We all want a tan. We don't even like the way we talk. Our shoes size is too big. Our legs are too short. Do I have them all, or can you think of more? Oh wait, ears. Yes, they are too big and stick out. Hmm. Eyes. Yes, those eyes are not blue. Wait, I wish mine were brown. I have no eye brows. My teeth are crooked.
We can see every wrinkle. Every ounce of fat and sign of cellulite visible. We watch the scales and pay attention to our jean size. Most women hate looking in the mirror. All we see is what is wrong and hold the phone, if it is that time of the month, watch out, the tears are going to be flowing too!!
Why do we do this to ourselves? Ask us what is beautiful and we might have to think on it a bit. Now, ask us what is beautiful about our friend and we can name a thousand things. Never once mentioning something not attractive. We see beauty in others, but not ourselves.
If we are out somewhere who is it we watch? Men? Are you kidding? We watch other women. We see what they are wearing. We compare ourselves with every other woman. Lets not fool ourselves. We know we do it. We think things like, "Oh, isn't she cute"? We wish we were that size. We dream of having their clothes. We ponder over what it would be like to have such luxurious hair. We look at other women and feel bad about ourselves. Then we find ourselves jealous and bitter. We go home after our day out and have ourselves a big bowl of ice cream and drown out our pitiful sorrows of why we don't have legs up to our neck. Which is just simply impossible.
We step on the scale. We diet. We buy new clothes. We look at magazines and watch television to see ads that only show us continually how we can be smaller and look better. Wrinkle cream and lotions of all kinds. Do you think women have always been like this? When was the first moment woman said, "I wish I was her"?
"I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well." Psalm 139:14
How many times have we read this verse and simply looked over it? It doesn't say, "God made me and now I will complain daily." It says, "I will praise YOU." Praise, ladies!! In awesome wonder God created us. My soul knows you well? God knows our very heart. His Spirit lives within us. We are part of Him. He is part of us. God doesn't create ugly! We have simply got to get over ourselves. Stop trying to see what the world calls beauty and see what God says is beautiful. If I am reading this right, it pretty much says, His works are marvelous.
Marvelous: Causing wonder; Astonishing. Miraculous, supernatural. The highest kind or quality; notably superior.
Do you see that? "The highest kind or quality". Do we really have reason to complain? When we complain we are sinning. Yes. We are not praising God for ALL He has done. We are saying, "Look, You created her just fine, but You messed up on me!!" God doesn't make ugly!! We are Marvelous!!
Put down that magazine. Stop looking at the television. Open up God's Word and see His love letter written just for you. His princess!! Ladies, lets lift one another up with the highest form of praise and say, "Praise God for ALL He has done." Lets encourage one another in our journey. Look in the mirror and praise God for creating you. Each day we should be able and ready to praise Him for something new. Our bodies grow older. We age. Wrinkles are going to come and things are going to fall. We are not always going to look twenty.
I look to my daughters and see sheer beauty, but you know what? I can't do that without seeing bits and pieces of me too. My eyes and lips are right there upon their beautiful faces. My grand daughter looks just like her momma. I can't look at my grand daughter without awe and wonder.
I want my grand daughter to grow knowing she is beautiful. That she was created by a God who loves her. Loves her like she is the only one. Lets teach our daughters what beauty is. You can't find beauty in a bottle. It doesn't come in a hundred dollar cream. It begins in the heart and that is where it blossoms and grows into a beautiful and delicate flower that gives a fragrant aroma and spouts seed after seed.
I am no different than you. I have had the same feelings and have seen the same things you have. I can change clothes twenty times before walking out the door. Don't you think Satan wants us to feel that way? Don't you think he knows as long as we are complaining we aren't doing much praising? When we think less of ourselves we aren't thinking much of God. We must learn to see our own beauty. A smile lights the eyes. Can you hear your Father? Your Savior? He is telling you, "Daughter you are beautiful to Me. Look at how I created your eyes like no other. I gave you that dimple and those freckles to make you unique and unlike any other. Don't you know how much I love you?" If others can see our beauty we too should be able to see the beauty we behold. We need to change our approach to the mirror. If we mirror Christ all we will see is the beautiful reflection of our Savior.
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting - a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Genesis 1:27
"Do not let your adornment be merely outward-arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel-rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." 1 Peter 3:3-4
