Human beings have a really bad habit of comparing ourselves to others. We also have a horrible habit of declaring some people more beautiful than others. As if we have a right to declare one of God’s masterpieces more perfect than the next. And maybe it has everything to do with the fact that I have an extremely vulnerable post going up on the Devotional Diva website tomorrow, but I want to take a moment and talk about beauty.
If you’re like most women, you probably don’t believe that you’re beautiful. You don’t believe you’re valuable. And I’m willing to bet that you have features you hate.
Because someone once told you what beautiful was, and you never quite fit the mold.
Two months ago, I stumbled across a post on Good Women Project that recommended I write my body a love letter. It was more of an apology. For all the years I took it for granted. For all the times I convinced myself not to care about my appearance. For all the years I resented my body because I knew what the genetics said I could have been. But after twenty-one years, I finally penned the words:
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Because we all have our idea of what beautiful is, and you were never mine.”
And I told myself I’m beautiful. I praised the features I love rather than critiqued the ones I hate. It was a healing experience. A powerful experience. An experience I would recommend to every woman on the planet.
Write your body a love letter. Because you’re beautiful like that.
Because for years and years, you’ve fed yourself lies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; and you deserve a little truth in your diet.
You deserve the kind of truth that Hannah Brencher weaves into her blog post about bullying our bodies.
You deserve the kind of love letter that compares you to a breathtaking sunset.
You deserve to know that God made you beautiful.
And you deserve to hear it from yourself.
So write your body a love letter. Be honest. Be kind. And be sure to tell yourself you’re beautiful.
Because you are.
Beyond Waiting 
Thank you. I have been telling myself I’m beautiful for a while now. And others. In my environment, I’m trying to make people aware of the fact that beauty isn’t this thing that the mass tells us to be, but it’s what we are. The battle is still going on, some want to be compared to others and get unhappy when they don’t measure up, that just breaks my heart. No one is higher, worst or better than another. I still have to write this love letter 🙂
I think it’s a love letter we need to write every single day. Just get up in the morning, look in the mirror, and greet yourself with a, “Hello, Gorgeous.” Because you’re always going to beat yourself up for your failure to measure up to something, and taking your frustrations out on God’s handiwork is pretty fruitless, actually. We’re in the same heartbreaking boat. Keep reminding the world of how beautiful it is!
amen
Thanks for the shout out! Love this post. Great writing!
Thanks, Ruth.