This world has become beauty obsessed, and people are starting to notice that something is not right. News stories, journalists, writers, bloggers have begun to realize that these unrealistic standards of beauty are having a huge impact on our girls and women. Our friends, moms, daughters, sisters, cousins and neighbors (some more than others) spend time every single day thinking about their looks. Something has got to change, right?
Right. I believe it does. But I also believe that the answers to this change do not lie in our own hands. There is always value in studying human behavior, observing the media, and identifying the lies bounced around as if they are truth. I do it here, and I think it is helpful. It is helpful, but it is not the answer.
No, our true worth cannot be found in our dress size or high cheek bones. Honestly, our true worth cannot even be found in us… it is in HE that is in us. Yes, I can determine that there is a lot about this physical body of mine that I don’t like, but even still I will bask in the beauty that I see in HIM in ME every single day. When THAT becomes what it most important, I have found my True Worth.
I cannot help but admire the peace and the trust of a sleeping child in the arms of someone who loves them. At that moment they know no fear, no worry, no discontentment. Their faces glow with the reality of sheer… unbridled…immense…wholeness. They have no other need than to be held, be loved, and be taken care of.
It is no coincidence that God calls us His children and He our Heavenly Father. It is a real and tangible way for Him to explain His love for us. In this world, nothing is stronger, more powerful, or more intense than the love of a parent for their child. It can literally move mountains. If this is true, and I unwaveringly believe that it is, than I choose to focus on the HUGENESS of that truth instead of the SMALLNESS of my physical worth.
Someday this body of mine will turn back into dust. It will be gone forever. With it will go every negative critique of myself, every inch that I pinched, and every small waistband I tried to squeeze into. In its place will only remain my true worth. In its place will be the belief or unbelief I did or did not invest into it. Because at the end of the day, on the last day of my life, I want my true worth to remain long after my body is gone.
So for today, I pray that you and I live like a swaddled baby in the arms of a Heavenly Father that paid the ultimate price for our hearts to be His. Remember, He paid the price of His son. May we never forget the weight of that sacrifice and may God’s tears for His only son pour directly into our intense need for worth.