be you, bravely

The most beautiful women I know are flawed.  Women with laugh lines and crooked teeth.  Their bellies are soft.  Their skin ranges from dewy and pale to rough and darkened.  As I think right now about these beautiful women what my mind is drawn to is their spirits, the souls within their bodies.  The light that shines from their hearts.  The warmth that radiates from the inside.

Beauty lies in the strength to accept yourself as you are.

Can you accept your hair, whether it be course or fine or curly or straight or short or long?  Can you just love that it grows out of your very head and God knows the number?  Can you accept your skin, whether it be pale or tanned or thick or freckled or soft or not?  Can you accept the fact that your fingernails just don't grow right?  Can you accept the fact that your eyelashes are not as full as they once were? Can you accept the fact that you don't have washboard abs and maybe just maybe you have the curvaceous body of a woman?  Can you accept the fact that occasionally a stray hair grows out of your chin?

Now I am not saying a person should just plant themselves in a comfy chair and sit there all day long just "accepting" themselves as they are.  We should be proactive.  But we should not be fake.

A woman can be healthy.  A woman can be strong.  A woman can get her hair cut or let it grow.  A woman can dress in pretty things.  And we can wear cute shoes. 

BUT

How much time and attention goes into these pursuits and what is the motivation behind them?

Are you eating healthy out of pride?  Is it a diet that feeds your vanity?

Are you exercising to get a flat belly, to be thinner than her?

Are you wearing your hair to gently flatter your features or has it become a source of pride, a façade?

Are your clothes an over the top embellishment to portray a character?

Has your makeup become a fake masquerade that turns you into something you never were?

I just want to beg a woman, tear off the mask and be exactly who you are!!

A little concealer, a dusting of powder, a splash of color here and there, okay.  But, is yours a mask?  The cat-eye eyeliner, the out to there mascara, the unnatural red lips, the rosy red cheeks....it is not YOU! 

It is a pained heart that hides behind a false front.

Where are you seeking your validation from?  Are you seeking the appreciative looks from the people in the grocery store?  Does it make you feel better when they take two or three looks and you pretend not to notice?  Does your validation come from people telling you that you are beautiful?

You should know better.

A woman whose heart is held by her Heavenly Father seeks only His validation.  I'm pretty sure God doesn't care if your eyes are lined, your cheeks are contoured, and your stomach is flat.

Have your ever thought that what you are portraying to those around you isn't really who/what you are?  What is it that you are trying to get them to believe about you?  What message are you preaching?  Does hair a certain way, makeup a certain way, glowy skin, and hip clothes draw others to Christ or does it draw them to you?  I can tell you that it certainly pushes some away.

People want real.  People want to relate to each other.  Women want to see women that are comfortable in their skin, comfortable in their bodies enough to not constantly judge themselves, measure themselves against those around them.  I don't want to be measured against you.  I don't want you to measure yourself against me.

I want to be aware of my flaws and know that I am exactly who God created.  Each line, each mole, each soft spot, each firm muscle, each eyelash.  It is all part of the package that I am.  All or nothing.  That is how I can accept it.

Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain.

 

 

but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

 

 

Proverbs 31:30