We are Beautiful Creatures

When I was 15 I got a glimpse of the complexity of beauty for the first time.  I was the new kid in theater class (all my classes actually) and there was another girl in there that was one of the most naturally pretty people I had ever seen.  It was like something out of those teen romance-adventures.  “She didn’t wear any makeup and didn’t need to” crap.  But it was true.  She didn’t wear any and she didn’t need to.  And she knew it.  It was effortless and casual. 

But then she opened her mouth.  She had the hardest voice I had ever heard.  The quality of it was still great.  But the tone of it?  I had to make myself not cringe every time she spoke.  It was cruel and mocking and rock hard.  And it made everything else about her wither.  She went from being enviable to slightly repulsive.  Because who she had chosen to be sapped her beauty and turned her into granite.

The problem is we don’t often learn these lessons as kids.  And if we do, we don’t remember them.  Seeing her didn’t stop me from thinking negative comparisons for the next ten years.  Watching her transformation didn’t stop me from getting defensive and attacking beautiful people because I was convinced I wasn’t one of them. 

The concept of beauty is a tricky thing.  One I think we get wrong a lot.  A LOT. 

We attach it to size.  To facial features.  To body shape.  To hair color.  To eye color.  To skin color.  To complexion.  To straight teeth. To fashion choices.  Too big.  Too small.  Too fat.  Too skinny.  Too white.  Too dark.  Too much makeup.  Not enough makeup. 

 OR…

We attach it to personality.  To brains.  To lack of interest in the physical appearance.  To smile amount.  To athleticism.  To skills.  To kindness.  To self-control.  To quiet calm.  To loud exuberance. 

Many of you might be thinking, “Yes!  That one!  It definitely needs to be the second.” 

I say, wrong. 

Yes, we’ve corrupted beauty to just mean the outside.  But we’ve also corrupted beauty to just mean the inside.  We’ve even turned it into a competition.  Are you on team Inside or Outside?  Are you on team Inside while secretly playing by the rules of team Outside?  Are you team Outside trying to hide your natural gifts because you want desperately to be on team Inside?  We’ve corrupted it so much that if you compliment one side, you are inadvertently insulting the other. 

“You’ve got a great personality” is now an insult because it means you are lacking in outside beauty.  “You look so gorgeous!” means they don’t see any of our inside assets or accomplishments.  We want to be described as BOTH because then we’ve got all our bases covered.  The requirements for both teams have been met.  Why does it have to be one or the other?

“But God looks at the heart and not at the outside.”  True, very true.  And thank goodness for that.  We don’t need a material legalism to battle against as well as a religious one.  The heart is what matters most.  The outside can be taken from you and you can still be lovely.  But I put forth the idea that God doesn’t JUST see the heart.  That He doesn’t see Inner beauty and Outer beauty.  He just sees BEAUTY. 

They are one and the same.  They influence and feed each other, for better or worse.  God made us to be beautiful creatures.  Inside AND out.  Beauty isn’t one or the other, it’s both.  OUR beauty isn’t one or the other, it’s both.  If it wasn’t, why would God have created us to be beautiful?  Because we are.  Don’t argue or deny that.  WE ARE BEAUTIFUL CREATURES. 

The lie that gets fed to us is that we aren’t beautiful enough.  Our outsides aren’t pretty enough or perfect enough.  Better hit the gym or look up makeup tips or buy that shirt which turns into running ourselves ragged and stealing our joy. 

Or our insides aren’t pretty enough.  Better volunteer or take that family a meal or be purposeful about not caring about the outside which turns into running ourselves ragged and stealing our joy. 

It can even get more insidious than that.  We’ll start to believe the lie that if we like traits about ourselves we’ll end up corrupting them because that’s vanity.

So, here is the challenge.  I’ll be doing this and if you read this, I challenge you to do it too.

For one week, I will look in the mirror everyday and say “_____________ is why you are beautiful.”  It can be inside or it can be outside.  Because they are the same, they are why I am beautiful. 

The following week I will text or Facebook message or tweet or call one friend a day and tell them something that is lovely about them, ending with “and that is why you are beautiful”.  Not that’s what makes you beautiful, as if it’s an on-going thing that you have to make sure you don’t lose.  You’ve already been made, you are already beautiful.  The complete package, inside AND out. 

Let us change the narrative for ourselves.  Let us get back to how God sees us.  Let us remember that we were created in His image.  And THAT is why you are beautiful.