I'm honestly REALLY sick of the message we're confronted with every day in our society that says that we have to be specifically and unrealistically aesthetically pleasing in order to be beautiful. Honestly, how completely ridiculous is that? You have to "look" a certain way to be beautiful, and what's more, to be valuable?
No.
No, you don't.
I'm not bashing those who choose to fix their hair and do their makeup every day. I'm one of those people! But what I do have a problem with is this idea that if we don't measure up to some outward ideal—some unattainable standard—we're not beautiful.
Contrary to what we've been raised to believe and our society states, beauty and outward appearances are not one and the same. Yes, a person can be described as beautiful based upon their looks. But looks are not the only thing that can be called "beautiful". So can hearts, minds, attitudes, acts of kindness, and character.
You have the ability to be beautiful no matter what you physically look like, because you can choose to treat others well, put their needs before your own, and follow Christ with your life.
And as for value... that will never change, because God made you, and Christ died for you. That's enough to make anyone and everyone, without exception, inherently valuable.
So... can we just stop the lies? Can we believe that we are more than what we look like? Because I think beyond changing our lives, we would make this world a far better place for future generations if we did.
Do you feel pressure to look a certain way? Do you feel that in order to be thought of as beautiful you have to look a certain way? In what ways can you stop the lies that society has fed us and cultivate a heart of beauty today? Want to read more on this topic? Check out Erica's post on "what is beauty?" by clicking HERE!
"You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God."
-I Peter 3:4-
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