I had an "ah-ha" moment last night. I had spent some time feeling kind of low yesterday and as I was heading to bed I read a blog that made me stop and rethink some things. To read the whole blog go HERE.
We live in a world where beauty is shoved at us from every angle. We are told that we must look a certain way. Wear the right clothes. Do our makeup the right way. We have to weigh the right amount and have perfect skin. Heaven forbid, we have a bad hair day, zits, a little extra weight, or we stay in our sweats all day long. In this society all of those things are unacceptable.
By the world's standards, I am not a beautiful person. For a lot of my life, Okay for most of my life this bothered me. It still bothers me more often than not. But, there was something in that blog post that made me stop and think. One of the women who answered said this, "Some days it's not easy to see beauty. It's easier to see that heat and humidity make my skin flush and my hair go crazy. Or that I don't weigh what I want to. Or I just plain don't feel good about myself some days. And then I remember. When we insult ourselves, we insult God's creation."
WHOA!!! Think about that for just a second. Never in my life have I thought about it in that light. When we insult ourselves, we insult God's creation. That hit me so hard when I read it last night. It took my breath away and made me cry. It brought me to my knees and had me pleading with my Heavenly Father for forgiveness. How many times have I criticized and insulted myself throughout my life? How many times have I, in essence, said Heavenly Father, you made a mistake with me? I forget or maybe I simply don't believe that I am a daughter of God. He loves me and I was made in His image. How dare I look at myself as anything other than that. It is pure arrogance that leads me to these thoughts. Heavenly Father made me. He knows me. He loves me and I should love myself just as much.
Oh My!!! What a darling daughter of God you are!! Love you. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThat was beautifully written Shannon! What a important thing to remember. I had never thought of it like that either. To answer your question via facebook, I think beauty comes when you have the light of Christ and it shows through your smiling face and kind words. I struggle with self image so much sometimes and it's hard for it not to get the best of ya. You have such a beautiful way with words. I really admire that so much! -Nicole Kingsbury
ReplyDeleteI always forget that I am a son of God, it's such a huge thing to think about as well that it can really blow your mind if you really think about it.
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