Have you ever wondered who was the authority on what was ‘pretty?’ Who said rail thin was beautiful? Or that if you didn’t have long, thick hair you were out of luck. And then who said that we all had to fit into these requirements?
It blows me, really, how women compare themselves to anyone and everyone and usually find themselves coming up short.
Why? Why are we coming up short? Well, in my opinion because comparing is a lose-lose situation. You either come out on top and you’re feeling pretty good about yourself (and in turn, pretty lowly of the other person), kinda high and mighty, or you come out less than worthy, kinda feeling sorry for yourself.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been there! I do it too often and I hate it every time I do it.
So I want to start a movement. A movement where women everywhere embrace their OWN true beauty. Where it’s okay to know you look good and embrace that. It doesn’t make you better or worse than the next girl, because you aren’t comparing! You feel good about yourself because that is the way God put you together and guess what, he doesn’t make mistakes.
I know we’ve all heard that before. “God made you beautiful” blah blah blah. But let’s think of it this way. What if your beautiful little child worked all day to create a pretty painting for you. He brought you the painting and was so proud in showing you and you say “That’s really nice, it’s very lovely in parts, but it has too much black over here. And this part should be blue. And I don’t really think this part goes. And it’s fat.”
Okay, so the fat part doesn’t fit into my analogy, but you get it, don’t you? God created a masterpiece in us and we’re saying “nice try, it’s okay in parts, but really, it’s not good enough.”
How about saying “Thank you Lord! I am beautifully made in your image and I am going to embrace the beauty you gave me.” So when you know you look pretty you are taking pride in His work. You aren’t being self centered or cocky because you are taking pride in HIS work. It’s not about us.
Trust me, I know this is hard. It’s a weird exercise to feel beautiful and be okay with it. Maybe even say it out loud. But as my husband always says (and he’s a pretty confident dude) “If I don’t love me, who will?”
How can we expect to go out and conquer our worlds while feeling sorry for ourselves or not good enough?
Honestly, I could go on and on about this subject. I have a passion for women embracing their OWN beautiful and not someone else’s. But I’ll stop for now and give you one takeaway/challenge.
Tell me something beautiful about yourself that you know is a gift from God. And as a practice of embracing it confidently – leave it in the comments, it will be like saying it out loud.
Then thank the Lord for gift, embrace it, and conquer your day. 🙂
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