Beauty is multi-faceted. For some, it’s what they see on the surface, and for others, it’s what radiates from their heart. For me, I can honestly appreciate both, but view the heart as being our true source of beauty. Honestly, there are many things that allow us to feel and look best, but for today, here are 3 things we might take into consideration.

Attitude

Not all beauty is skin deep, and as Christians, we are encouraged to look beyond the appearance of a person. The reason or this is because by looking past our judgement of their outer shell, we are able to see the beautiful reality that God is in us all. This goes for how we look at ourselves as well. We are created in His image, exactly the way we were supposed to be, which is a fact that is sometimes hard to remember when we are faced with times when we don’t feel our most beautiful.

When we’re feeling down about ourselves, I believe it’s often because we’re viewing ourselves through world’s lens. We compare ourselves to others which ultimately will just make us feel like we’re not measuring up. This is the place that negative self-talk lives. It’s hard not to fall into this, but when we do, it is possible to stop. In order to stop, however, it requires a perspective change and an attitude adjustment on our part. We have to focus on God’s truth and choose to look beyond the surface of ourselves and others.

Now, I don’t mean we can’t be realistic with ourselves and understand when we might need to lose weight for health reasons, or consider what might be the best skin care routine. I’m talking about pinpointing every little thing we don’t like about ourselves and falling into the temptation of wishing we looked all-together different (I struggled with this when I was younger from time to time, so I understand).

Appearance

Appearance is what we most often think of in the traditional sense of “beauty.” It is, of course, true that we do have bodies that make-up what we look like, and so I’m not saying we should ignore that fact. My main thing is just to remember that God has given us our bodies as a gift so that we can live this life. When we make that our focus for how we look at and treat our bodies, then it gives us a whole new view on taking care of them in a health sense, but also in taking care of our appearance so we feel good about the way we look so we can’t present our best self.

This process can look very different for different people, and not everyone’s path will be the same. In fact, for some their focus will be on eating healthy and exercising, others it might be managing their hair type or mastering the perfect face of makeup that makes them feel like their best selves. Some may walk the path of accepting themselves no matter what, while others might feel they want surgery (such as nose surgery with a recommended rhinoplasty surgeon) to enhance their confidence. Whatever your viewpoint is on this topic, I believe it’s just important that if and/or when we decide to make changes to our body, we take time to pray about it first. In so doing, we can make sure that we’re doing it for ourselves, regardless if anyone else notices, and not because someone made us feel like we had to in order to be considered beautiful.

Actions

Finally, our actions play a huge role in beauty. I’ve already mentioned the actions we take towards caring for our bodies, but in addition to that, we should also consider the actions we take in reflecting the light of Jesus to the world. In asking God to guide us regarding showing kindness and compassion, as well as the best way to serve and show genuine love towards others, we have the potential to create beauty not only in ourselves, but in the world around us as well.

You are so beautiful my friend. Regardless of what you might think, or what you might want to change, it’s true. We all have things we notice about ourselves that we wish were different. That’s human nature. Today, however, maybe we could give ourselves a break from not having the perfect “everything”, but rather appreciate the light within ourselves that reflects the hope and joy found in Christ. Because it’s His love that radiates within us and allows others to see what true beauty actually looks like.

“Lord, in the pursuit of trying to become our best, well-rounded self…let us never forget where true beauty comes from. Help us learn to love ourselves and the body you gave us. Help our desire be to make the world around us even more beautiful with our kind actions. Give us the ability to see and love ourselves the way You do. Help us to give ourselves grace and release our insecurities. Thank You for everything, even the tiniest of blessings, You’ve given us. We love You so much, in Jesus name, Amen.”

Praying for you today and always, friends.

Love in Christ,

Helen Elizabeth