How Beautiful Are You?

We are aware that beauty is subjective. The Kayan tribe measures a woman’s beauty by the brass rings wore around the neck. In Ethiopia, the women of the Karo tribe wear scars on their stomachs. In Mauritania, Africa, a beautiful woman has many big curves. The Polynesian women are considered to be beautiful if they wear traditional tattoos on their lips and chins.
In the Western World, we use many tools to become beautiful. There’s plastic surgery, implants, hair extensions, and ways to change hair color. Don’t forget about the different types of fitness, diet and cosmetics to use. And don’t forget to include the perfect teeth with perfect fashion to complete the package.
And what happens when we aren’t beautiful? Our self-esteems plummet. We spend hours at the mirror fixated on what we think is wrong. We fold into ourselves, refusing to do anything that might expose the thing we think is a flaw. It’s worse when it’s our life and not just our physical condition. We look in the mirror and only see a label. Overweight. Addict. Liar. Failure.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. God makes us beautiful. No earthly action could make you shine as brightly as God does.
Being nine months pregnant, I have become more aware of the skinny twigs...I mean, skinny ladies...walking around me. I try to stare in envy, but they speed by faster than I can waddle. Although my husband finds me beautiful like this, I find it difficult not to compare myself to them.  Until I went to church...
During the service, they showed a video with the song Beautiful Things by Gungor. Watch it here. Just scroll to the bottom of the page to find the video.
Isn’t it strange that our culture strives so hard for beauty and yet shuns God Who makes us beautiful with great determination? It’s the power of God - not the power of the curling iron - that makes us truly beautiful.
What does God find beautiful? An awareness of one’s spiritual poverty, sorrow for wickedness, hunger and thirst for righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, being a peacemaker,keeping a living faith while enduring hardships, controlling the tongue, making sacrifices for the good of others, and living by Christian convictions in the face of ridicule.
Our world puts such strong pressure on us to measure up to an unobtainable ideal of beauty. It makes us feel inadequate and ugly. Guilt and shame can strip away all hope. But God gives makes us more beautiful than this world could ever imagine. The guilt and shame disappear as the love of God shines through. Soon all people can see if God’s love and joy in our smile and eyes.
Don’t hang your head in shame anymore. Don’t envy what others have. Look at the beautiful person God is creating. Look for the qualities that God “makes beautiful things out of us.”