What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you notice something beautiful about the woman who glances back at you? Or is it hard to see past what you focus on as flaws?
I’ve been challenged by these thoughts lately. When I look in the mirror, my eyes tend to immediately notice what I don’t like… wrinkles, dark circles under my eyes, that bump on my chin, freckles, cellulite.
The other day I watched Aster looking at herself in the mirror. I couldn’t help but notice how much she delights in what she sees.
She smiles at the girl who looks back at her. And she even blows herself kisses.
I have a feeling she tells herself how pretty she looks in baby babble. I can’t understand it, but her smile says it all .
I remember feeling pretty when I was a little girl. Memories of dressing up flood my mind as I look at Aster. Pretending I was a princess about to become a bride, I can almost smell the azaleas I’d gather to make my wedding bouquet. I’d walk down the aisle of my dad’s long driveway lined with magnolia trees. And of course, my imaginary prince charming was waiting for me on the porch. I’m not sure he used words in my fairy tale, but I knew that he thought I was beautiful. His smile said it all.
Is it possible to return to that place? To be like the little girl who believed she was a beautiful princess?
If we allow God’s thoughts to replace ours, I think it is. For in the truest part of our being, that is who we really are!
Lord, please erase words that have been spoken and lies that have been believed that have kept us from seeing ourselves as beautiful. Remind us today that we are Your inheritance. A crown of splendor, a royal diadem, true beauty in the hand of our God.
I pray you would remove our fault-finding tendencies and anything that has scribbled something ugly over the beauty You created in us. Replace self-condemnation with Your thoughts towards us. Show us the very things You hand-made in each of us to be beautiful – the color of our eyes, the tone of our skin, the shape of our lips, the gentleness of our smile, the length of our necks and other traits that are uniquely ours.
Father, I want to see what you see. Will You stand here with me, revealing true beauty that’s woven into the woman who looks back each day when I look in the mirror.
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As comments are still left weeks after I wrote this post, I continue to pray for each of you. That you will hear God whispers of "beautiful words" over you from head to toe. He's enthralled with your beauty that radiates from the inside out. He sees you, He loves you, He can't take His eyes off you.
Tears are streaming as I read todays blog.My head tells me God sees me as beautiful but the mirror tells me a different story. Years of smoking, a birth defect, the sad and frowning child I was and the lisp and stuttering that have taken a toll on my face. And yes, the sun! Thank you for the encouragement as the wounds of the past heal and I continue to journey with God.