When will my reflection show who I am inside? -Mulan
I haven’t looked in a mirror in weeks. I haven’t even put makeup on in weeks. And don't even get me started on the frequency of my bucket showers… It’s liberating.
While in Ukraine I did an exercise with my team where I made each of them look in the mirror, straight at themselves, as teammates poured words of truth and life over them. Words that gave identity- kind words telling them who they are in Christ. Part of me was tired of hearing some of them talk about how fat or ugly they were, words that they fed themselves and were not even close to the truth. Part of me needed to hear truth about myself. Either way it seemed we were all losing some sort of sense of the beauty God calls us into.
We are so hard on ourselves.
We so easily forget the identity that we have in Christ. Instead we focus on the lies others have fed us, or define beauty based on how society defines it.
The whole grooming process of a woman amazes me. I have watched friends, maybe even myself look in the mirror for an hour or more putting on makeup, plucking eyebrows, or popping zits. As if skinny air-brushed models adorning countless magazines weren’t enough, we spend hours and hours looking at ourselves focusing on our "flaws." Correcting our "flaws." My lips aren’t red enough. My eyes don’t pop enough. My skin color isn’t right here, or here. Must pop that pimple. We continue to remind ourselves of our imperfections. And this is how many of us start our day!
When do we spend time focusing on our beauty?
This past month, my reflection wasn’t found in a mirror. It was found in the faces I came across. And the responses to my actions and my words. It was the 4 year old African child that would stop by our place almost everyday, look at me and smile then run away bashfully. It came from the laughter of the women I danced with. Or the reaction I got after delivering a message at church. This is how I know I’m beautiful. They saw a side of me I rarely focus on.
1Peter3: 3-4 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
