Earlier today, I typed a single word into the Pinterest search bar: beauty. The very first Pin to come up was a Cosmopolitan article entitled "100 Mascaras Tested On One Eye." The second Pin was another article called "10 Tips for Perfect Skin," and the third was called "101 Beauty Tips Every Girl Should Know."
Cosmo, Teen Vogue, and Seventeen will tell us that the definition of "beautiful" is having a Kim Kardashian body, an Angelina Jolie face, Blake Lively hair, and a Miley Cyrus "I-don't-care-what-you-think" attitude. They'll teach us how to achieve those thigh gaps, plump up our lips, and how to keep guys interested, while at the same time insisting that we should never change ourselves for a man.
The double standard that society has been professing is confusing and frustrating, and has many women wondering what beauty really is. Instead of letting flawed human beings define beauty for us, we should turn to our Maker, who is beauty incarnate.
Song of Solomon says, "You are altogether beautiful my love; there is no flaw in you." Though of course all human beings are flawed, God (speaking through Solomon) is telling us we were all perfectly made. The God of the Universe does not make mistakes, and that means that you are not a mistake.
Though the longing for physical beauty is not only natural, but given to us by God, we must not let it take control of our desires. Imagine how different the world would be if women spent as much time doing random acts of kindness as they did doing their makeup in the morning.
Ladies, and gents too, I'm going to challenge you. Look in the mirror right now. Tell yourself, sincerely, three things that you see in the mirror that you love. Say it. Repeat it. Believe it. Now that that's out of the way, go change the world. Smile at strangers. Buy someone flowers. Offer to pray for someone. Clean your house without looking for a reward. Write a love letter. Pay for someone's parking. Play with your siblings. Just make a difference. No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. And guess what? Kindness is freaking beautiful.
Cosmo, Teen Vogue, and Seventeen will tell us that the definition of "beautiful" is having a Kim Kardashian body, an Angelina Jolie face, Blake Lively hair, and a Miley Cyrus "I-don't-care-what-you-think" attitude. They'll teach us how to achieve those thigh gaps, plump up our lips, and how to keep guys interested, while at the same time insisting that we should never change ourselves for a man.
The double standard that society has been professing is confusing and frustrating, and has many women wondering what beauty really is. Instead of letting flawed human beings define beauty for us, we should turn to our Maker, who is beauty incarnate.
Song of Solomon says, "You are altogether beautiful my love; there is no flaw in you." Though of course all human beings are flawed, God (speaking through Solomon) is telling us we were all perfectly made. The God of the Universe does not make mistakes, and that means that you are not a mistake.
Though the longing for physical beauty is not only natural, but given to us by God, we must not let it take control of our desires. Imagine how different the world would be if women spent as much time doing random acts of kindness as they did doing their makeup in the morning.
Ladies, and gents too, I'm going to challenge you. Look in the mirror right now. Tell yourself, sincerely, three things that you see in the mirror that you love. Say it. Repeat it. Believe it. Now that that's out of the way, go change the world. Smile at strangers. Buy someone flowers. Offer to pray for someone. Clean your house without looking for a reward. Write a love letter. Pay for someone's parking. Play with your siblings. Just make a difference. No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. And guess what? Kindness is freaking beautiful.
HAVE COURAGE AND BE KIND. This post is freaking beautiful. So so so true.
ReplyDeleteAwesomeness to the max. YOU are a beautiful soul
ReplyDeleteAwesomeness to the max. YOU are a beautiful soul
ReplyDelete