Beautiful.
As women, we aim to be beautiful and to also FEEL beautiful. We sometimes put on makeup, do our hair real nice, put on a cute outfit, to get that feeling. And then we go check ourselves in the mirror to see how we look.
I’ve been learning a small lesson, though, since mirrors (especially large ones) are few and far between.
I do have a small mirror that I never look at and occasionally if I need to, I will borrow a friends bigger mirror–but overall, I don’t really looked myself in the mirror that often.
And honestly, it’s freeing not having a mirror to check myself that often.
There was a moment in the evening as ministry was wrapping up. My half of the squad was sitting in a circle about to pray for a family as the sun was slowly setting. And I felt beautiful.
Which was odd.
I hadn’t showered in 4 or 5 days. I had been wearing the same kurta/legging combo for about 4 or 5 days (when we went to our new ministry location, we thought we would be tenting with no showers and I would be trekking–so I packed really lite). I had about 5 layers of grime on my skin from not showering. I was sunburned from all previous ministry and then this weeks ministry.. I hadn’t brushed my hair all day and it was loose, but tangled up.
And yet, I felt beautiful. My heart and mind was at peace and had such joy as I was in another country doing what I love–ministry.. I was worn out, but content knowing I was tired for a good reason. I felt beautiful in my soul as I felt like I was where I needed to be. I was in a beautiful country with beautiful people.
So to the eye, I was probably not that attractive in that moment. But I felt and knew I was more attractive than any mirror could tell me.
And though there is nothing wrong at looking in mirrors and dressing up, I want to challenge you women to take a break from them.
I mean, I have had moments in my life where I have “felt” beautiful and looked in the mirror and was not content with what I saw.
Why miss opportunities to feel beautiful from things worth more than looks? We give mirrors too much power–instead of letting God, people, and our souls telling us we are beautiful, we can allows mirrors to do a poor job of it.
Mirrors can steal what it means to be truly beautiful. Why? Because there is so much more to being a beautiful woman than how we look.
