I lose myself looking into the mirror

Forget who I am beneath the skin

Wonder if the girl inside is still there

Thinking could it all be different

If I could change the person standing here

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Isn’t it easier to wish we could be like the person standing over there? Comparing ourselves to the things they have that we don’t. Comparing their beauty to ours? We see this cover of people that are beautiful and pleasing to the eye and wish that we could have what they have. We’ve all done it before and we look at ourselves in the mirror wishing away the parts of us we don’t like. We think that if we could change our personality, our talents, our abilities, our body, and ultimately who we are, maybe everything would be different. Maybe you would be popular, maybe you would be successful, maybe you would “matter,” but only if you could change who you are.

We forget who we are when we focus on HOW we are. How are we seen by others? How good do I look? How beautiful do I look? And we put aside the most important things that define beauty. I’ve done it, haven’t we all? Haven’t we all lost ourselves in the mirror labeling ourselves as untalented, unworthy, ugly, not enough, overweight, a failure, and the list could go on. And as I label everything about me that’s wrong on the outside, I seem to forget the very person beneath the skin. We talk ourselves into changing as much of us as we can to fit into this idea of “beauty,” forgetting the most essential values of beauty. I forget that beauty is so much more than what we present on the outside, it’s the person we decide to be with every decision, every word we speak, every thought we have, and every action we take. Most of all, beauty is captured in someone that not only lives out their life loving God but also fearing Him. The world has limited our idea of beauty to what only the eyes can see. But this beauty fades and deceives, we can present ourselves well to others, but as we build relationships and meet new people, our true self comes out, and our beauty is not defined by how we look, but how well we love and serve God and others. Beauty will fade away, but when we die our legacy of how we loved others will be remembered, not the clothes you wore, not your status on Instagram, not the grades you had.

Proverbs 31:30

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Too many of us have fallen into the trap of society’s definition of beauty. We bring ourselves down, make ourselves throw up, go days without eating, exercise excessively to try to fit into this box that beauty has been shoved into. But remind yourself right now that you are perfect for who you are at this moment. You are loved for who you are, yes, even the worst parts of you. You are enough and worthy of love.

I am reading this book for school called Crazy Love and the first chapter pointed out how incredibly powerful and majestic our God is. I want you to stop right now and click on this link to watch this video just as they had us do in the book. As they said, “Seriously, right now, go watch it.” https://youtu.be/LpChZxPfa-c

Now that you’ve watched it stop and think about how incredible the galaxy, the solar system, the stars, the planets are. Think about how beautiful the sunset skies are, the stars of the night, the mountains, the ocean, every creature of the sea and on land, think about the most beautiful things you have seen, and now realize you are a million times more beautiful than that. If God created everything that is so beautiful just by speaking, how much more beautiful, valuable, and precious are you compared to these things? God takes time to form you and mold you, and breathe life into you. Who are we to criticize the bodies that He has made us into? Who are we to hate the things we don’t like about ourselves when He died for us? Who are we to tear ourselves down for the person God has created us to be?

Genesis 2:7

Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.

Psalm 139: 13-16

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

You are more than enough. You are worthy. You are loved. You are perfected through Him.

“If only our eyes saw souls instead of bodies how different our ideals of beauty would be.” Lauren Jauregui