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You Are Beautiful

Do this one time. Go into your bathroom--I'm hopeful you have a big mirror--and just look at yourself. Some clothes or none; doesn't matter. Just do it. Look at yourself, and realize that how God made you is itself beautiful. Perhaps you have done something to harm yourself, or someone has done it to you. Pray to forget, for just some time. Just look. We are living, breathing, glorious miracles, and we forget. We forget the physical part of it. I'm not saying that we're not sinners, because we are. I'm not saying we couldn't change some things, even physically, because we could or might. Just look.

I'm extra-special. If you met me, you'd see the broken right away. People tell me I have a great attitude. Horse manure. I can't speak for everyone, but I think he allowed my broken body to humble me. He knew a proud and rebellious spirit from the get-go. In any case, I swear I don't look enough. I don't see this glory that He made. I saw the lines of my shoulders today, and I almost cried. Heck, I'm crying now.

We're all tied up in awful things; I'm sure you could tell me stories. We can't deny any of those awful things, whatever they happen to be. But maybe a little step forward is to look at yourself. Body and soul, there is no one like you.

I have no simple answers today. Just literally let some light in, and look. In these moments, maybe there is a little grace to see past the self-loathing, however we got it. Do you see an innocence that has been hiding? Does it seem a little less complicated from here?

I only saw that I must be meant for more than the voice of discouragement says. I saw it in the lines of my shoulders.
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