Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder. Part 1

Ever heard that phrase? "Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder." If you live under a rock, it mean's that anyone can define beauty. So if you think Brad Pitt is beautiful,than that's your truth. If you believe that Donald Trump is good looking... than that's what you believe.

Growing up as a dark skinned girl with curly hair, I didn't really have many prospects. Most of the guys that I thought were cute, didn't like me back, and some of them even shared my same skin tone, a few of the boys were even darker. Fortunately, the world is evolving and dark skin has become more relevant in the beauty industry.

However, one thing that has not changed is insecurity in women all across the world. Because of what is posted everyday in society we constantly compare ourselves to other women.

What makes this dangerous, is that we do this subconsciously. How many times have you seen someone really pretty, often societies version of beauty, and instantly longed for what they had. Whether it was, eyes, eyebrows, lips, nose, hair, clothes, jewelry, and the list goes on. Then, we go home and look at ourselves and wish that our looks and style could be the same or better.

This way of thinking points to a lack of validation in ourselves. I only say this because I have done it as well. And I still fight this way of thinking .

So here is one question that I would like you to ask yourself: Who is your beholder?

Is it Instagram? Is it a man? Is it the females you hang around? Is it your family? Is it the people at your church?

One thing that all of these factors have in common is inconsistency.

They are all people. As humans, we are imperfect. We have flaws and our own insecurities. What you see on Social Media and in Society is a projection of someone else's beliefs and nine times of ten, unrealistic for the normal person.

Placing our beauty standards and values in someone else's hands is the worse thingthat we could do; especially as Christians; our standard of beauty becomes inconsistent with how God sees us. Because we are so focused on what people think and believe of our image, we lower our value from God's standards to man's standards.

It's actually kind of funny because what God thinks of us and how we look is number one. He is truth. So to believe that I'm not skinny enough or pretty enough because some other imperfect human being told me so is almost sinful.

That means that In the area of beauty God is not my LORD and savior anymore; He's just background noise; and I have decided to idolize what people think of my face and body instead of what He says. If I were to believe that I am not cute, than I am basically saying God isn't cute, Ha! I would be insulting the creator of the universe. Jesus never told me that I am ugly. If He did ,knowing that His judgement is perfect, I would finally have a reason to be insecure about my looks. In fact, I would be crushed because He is the way, the TRUTH, and the life.

Now as humans, we do have different tastes and styles that we like, and there's nothing wrong with this. Wrong is when we believe that society's standard of beauty is above God's words.

So what do we do? We start believing what He tells us.

Now this is easier said than done. So one way, the main way, to understand and believe what God tells us is to meditate on His word.

Just a few things that scripture says:

" I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well." Psalm 139:14

"So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created Him; male and female He created them.-" Genesis 1:27

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord..." 2 Corinthians 3:18

Philippians 4:8 states, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

So keep His word in your mind and in your heart. Speak it out loud. In fact go in your secret place and ask Him what He thinks of you, and he will tell you the same thing, because scripture is his word.

Learning to love how you look and ultimately yourself is a process, especially as young women, it takes time and I say this because of what I have experienced and my knowing that there is so much more to learn. Our bodies evolve as the years go by but the one thing that stays constant is God and what He says about you.

Prayer

I pray that Jesus may touch your life in a new way; that you may be filled with His love and His peace that surpasses all understanding; that you may truly believe that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. I pray that your eyes are opened to see what God sees, and I pray that recognize how beautiful you really are. In Jesus name, Amen. <3