Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Beautiful.

In high school during our senior year, we had to write a huge research paper about a topic of our choice. It had to be 5,000 words, which as a senior, felt enormous. I believe I remember citing 17 sources. It was my first experience with using MLA format. Yippee.

I wrote about the standard of worldly beauty verses the Bible standard of beauty. Boy, are they different. I wrote, and learned a ton, about the different things people do/use to attempt to be and feel beautiful- make up, laxatives, botox, eating disorders, facial creams, liposuction, dieting, weight loss surgery, etc.

There are way too many girls in the world who don't feel beautiful. Notice I said FEEL beautiful, not ARE beautiful. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. Not only do they not feel beautiful, but struggle with low self-esteem, an eating disorder, are excessively made fun of/bullied at school, or are suicidal. That's absolutely heartbreaking.

Psalm 139:13-16 (I encourage you to read the whole chapter here.)

13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

I hope all you girls and women out there can rest in those verses above. Before you were ever even conceived, He knew exactly how you would be wired and exactly how you would look. The Creator of the universe also created you. You were created on purpose. God chose your physical features on purpose and made your body just as He wanted it to be. You are created by the Father.

Thus, you are beautiful. Genesis 1:27 says that God created man and woman out of His image. You were created in the image of God!

It upsets me how much girls struggle with comparing themselves with others, myself included, especially on Facebook. That girl is gorgeous. She looks good all the time. How does she do her hair like that? She is skinnier than me. I wish I could look like her. All the boys seem to like her. I wish I could be like her. I wish I could look like her. I wish I could be her.

Girls comment on their friends' pages all the time: "Stop being so gorgeous all the time! Not all girls can be as beautiful as you! Share some of your beauty with others!" It's fine to have gorgeous friends. That's great. But, don't ever forget that you are gorgeous too.

These thoughts flood some girls heads. I am thankful that I do not struggle with an eating disorder, I was/am not made fun of for how I look, and I feel like I have a good self-esteem. But, I know girls who have a serious problem with this, and I pray that they can find peace in how GOD views them.

Because who sets the standard for worldly beauty anyways? The world's standard for beauty is not attainable. Don't compare yourself to what you see on TV and magazines. Their pictures aren't even real anyway. Who in real life has a hair and make up team, outfit consultants, a professional photographer, and then computer systems to digitally change anything they want about the picture?

Very few people. And how do you think these models look when those people aren't around and they are on their period and have just woken up in the morning? Just like us girls who aren't models.

There is something to be said about presenting yourself well, but with healthy limits. It's okay to wear make up, just not too much. It's okay to exercise, just set healthy limits. It's okay to diet, just make sure it's very safe and good for your body, and you lose weight at a healthy rate that is appropriate for your body type.

If someone makes fun of the way you look, they aren't your real friend and you shouldn't be friends with them anyway. If a man doesn't ask you out because he doesn't find you "attractive enough," then he's not worth your time anyway and he just missed something special.

I could go on, but I hope and pray that all women out there, especially young girls, will feel beautiful today and everyday. Trust the opinion of the One who made you. He finds you beautiful because you are His. He created you out of His love.

And His opinion is the only one that truly matters in the end.

You are beautiful.

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