I don't have one specific thing to focus on today, or maybe I do. I suppose I'll find out as I write.
The Last Chapter
One big thing with beauty that I really want people to know, is that beauty is between you and God. God created you as this beautiful, amazing being, and He wants you to know that, to see what He sees, more than anything. There are a lot of people in this world who will try to tell us that we aren't beautiful, that we aren't anything special. But those people are lying. They are lying straight to our faces. And sometimes we're the ones lying to ourselves. How many times have you looked in the mirror and seen nothing but, well, what we like to describe as "ugly"? It's a lie. God doesn't see a single ounce of "ugly" in that beautiful face of yours, and if God, who sees everything about us and everything that we do, sees beauty in us, then it is most definitely true.
I guess some people may have expected a long list of directions on how to become beautiful when they first read the title to this series, but I don't have many directions. Other than what I've already said previously, I really only have one more tip. Let God's love shine through you. God's love is the only pure beauty that has and ever will existed, and therefore, the best, if not only, way to be truly beautiful. He loves us so, so much, and we need to show that to the world, that God sent is one and only begotten Son to the cross do die, in our place, so that one day, we will have eternal life with Him. If we let God's love and light shine through us into the world, people will most definitely see beauty. And the best part about that, is that this beauty doesn't come from ourselves, it comes from God, and therefore, we will always have it.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Beauty 101: Gray Hair and Wrinkles
So I didn't get right on writing that series on Beauty, but here's another one! :)
Gray Hair and Wrinkles
Not so long ago I overheard a girl about my age telling her friends that she would rather die young then get old and wrinkly. I stopped dead in my tracks and just stared for a few moments. How could someone rather their life be cut short than being old and wise? It doesn't make sense to me.
We have this viewpoint of it being a bad thing to get old. We're all trying to prevent wrinkles and gray hair from ages as young as fifteen years old, and once we reach a certain age, our birthdays are no longer something we look forward to, but rather, a day that we dread. But why? What's wrong with having experienced life?
I guess that this entry isn't necessarily only geared to girls my age, but women of all ages. Age is something to be proud of. No, I'm not wishing my life away, but I am excited to live those years. Those years where I've lived enough life to be considered wise, and where people are looking up towards me for advice. I want to be middle aged some day, and I want to be a grandmother. Wrinkles aren't a feature that we should spend hundreds to thousands of dollars trying to make disappear, gray hairs aren't things that we should spend hours a year dyeing.
Love the stage of life you're in. Love it. Whether you are a child, a pre-teen, a teenager, a young adult, an adult, middle aged, or a senior, love life! Yeah, of course every stage of life has it's difficulties, but each one comes with even more benefits. And guess what, you're beautiful in every single stage. The second part of the verses that we looked at in my last post, 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 4 says "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." The key part of that verse that I want to look at is where it says "the unfading beauty". That means that when you're looking at true beauty, it doesn't go away with age, it doesn't run and hide when wrinkles reveal themselves.
Beauty doesn't leave, and it doesn't hide. When you think about it, it's actually kind of silly to think that as you get older you lose your beauty, if anything, you only get more beautiful as you learn to understand the ways of the world. No matter how old you are, go out today, and embrace your beautiful self, and don't let anyone, not your best friend, your spouse, your worst enemy, your sibling, and especially not society, tell you that you aren't beautiful.
Gray Hair and Wrinkles
Not so long ago I overheard a girl about my age telling her friends that she would rather die young then get old and wrinkly. I stopped dead in my tracks and just stared for a few moments. How could someone rather their life be cut short than being old and wise? It doesn't make sense to me.
We have this viewpoint of it being a bad thing to get old. We're all trying to prevent wrinkles and gray hair from ages as young as fifteen years old, and once we reach a certain age, our birthdays are no longer something we look forward to, but rather, a day that we dread. But why? What's wrong with having experienced life?
I guess that this entry isn't necessarily only geared to girls my age, but women of all ages. Age is something to be proud of. No, I'm not wishing my life away, but I am excited to live those years. Those years where I've lived enough life to be considered wise, and where people are looking up towards me for advice. I want to be middle aged some day, and I want to be a grandmother. Wrinkles aren't a feature that we should spend hundreds to thousands of dollars trying to make disappear, gray hairs aren't things that we should spend hours a year dyeing.
Love the stage of life you're in. Love it. Whether you are a child, a pre-teen, a teenager, a young adult, an adult, middle aged, or a senior, love life! Yeah, of course every stage of life has it's difficulties, but each one comes with even more benefits. And guess what, you're beautiful in every single stage. The second part of the verses that we looked at in my last post, 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 4 says "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." The key part of that verse that I want to look at is where it says "the unfading beauty". That means that when you're looking at true beauty, it doesn't go away with age, it doesn't run and hide when wrinkles reveal themselves.
Beauty doesn't leave, and it doesn't hide. When you think about it, it's actually kind of silly to think that as you get older you lose your beauty, if anything, you only get more beautiful as you learn to understand the ways of the world. No matter how old you are, go out today, and embrace your beautiful self, and don't let anyone, not your best friend, your spouse, your worst enemy, your sibling, and especially not society, tell you that you aren't beautiful.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Beauty 101: It's True
I know that I have many opinions on many different things, who doesn’t? But I’m tired of people thinking bad things about themselves, girls in particular (simply because I am a girl and know the struggles, not because y’all with the Y chromosome aren’t awesome!). So it’s time that my thoughts on beauty pour outward. In the next few days or so, I’ll be writing a series of posts on beauty that will hopefully help each of you, even those of my male readers.
It's True.
A friend once told me that her boyfriend had called her beautiful. She said that it was a major confidence booster, even though it wasn't true. I looked at her and kind of cocked my head questioningly, saying of course it was true. We went back and forth for a few moments, and then I firmly said "All people are beautiful." And that is so unbelievably true, even though we don't always see it. No matter how many times we fight against compliments, no matter how many times we look in the mirror and think that there is no possible way that the mess we see could be beautiful, none of that is right. What is right is that all people are beautiful. You are beautiful.
Today's society tells us that in order to be beautiful we need to wear layers upon layers of makeup to hide blemishes, we need to wear a dress size zero, and if we don't, we need to squeeze into one anyway. According to society we need to have small feet and long fingers, and silky long hair. But that's not where actual beauty comes from. Actual beauty comes from the inside, not the outside. 1 Peter chapter 3 verses 3 and 4 say "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."
God loves each and everyone of us, and we are each amazingly beautiful in His eyes. But God doesn't see what we as humans see. While we're looking at the outward appearance, God sees the inside. He sees our thoughts, and our motivations. And He absolutely loves us. Guess what, God created each of us in His own image, so of course we're beautiful.
Please believe people when they tell you that you are beautiful, because it's true! And also, today, I challenge you to work towards looking at the inward beauty of yourself and others, as opposed to the outward appearance. Try to see what our Heavenly Father see. He rejoices over us!
It's True.
A friend once told me that her boyfriend had called her beautiful. She said that it was a major confidence booster, even though it wasn't true. I looked at her and kind of cocked my head questioningly, saying of course it was true. We went back and forth for a few moments, and then I firmly said "All people are beautiful." And that is so unbelievably true, even though we don't always see it. No matter how many times we fight against compliments, no matter how many times we look in the mirror and think that there is no possible way that the mess we see could be beautiful, none of that is right. What is right is that all people are beautiful. You are beautiful.
Today's society tells us that in order to be beautiful we need to wear layers upon layers of makeup to hide blemishes, we need to wear a dress size zero, and if we don't, we need to squeeze into one anyway. According to society we need to have small feet and long fingers, and silky long hair. But that's not where actual beauty comes from. Actual beauty comes from the inside, not the outside. 1 Peter chapter 3 verses 3 and 4 say "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."
God loves each and everyone of us, and we are each amazingly beautiful in His eyes. But God doesn't see what we as humans see. While we're looking at the outward appearance, God sees the inside. He sees our thoughts, and our motivations. And He absolutely loves us. Guess what, God created each of us in His own image, so of course we're beautiful.
Please believe people when they tell you that you are beautiful, because it's true! And also, today, I challenge you to work towards looking at the inward beauty of yourself and others, as opposed to the outward appearance. Try to see what our Heavenly Father see. He rejoices over us!
Friday, July 8, 2011
No Matter What...
...Trust in God
You know, I have a lot of friends who look down on me sometimes because of mistakes I've made. Or because of how I look at situations. I am extremely optimistic, that's just how I am. I look to the future and I think big, I dream, I hope. And yes, lot's of times I get let down. But there are many more times when I achieve so much more than I ever could if I wasn't dreaming. It's in those times, when I know that something is a long shot, that I really learn to trust God. I ask Him to help me, to lead me, and to guide me. I know that this world that God has made is beautiful, full of awesome opportunities, and I know that He has a plan for each of us. If I'm always pessimistic, always looking on the bad side of things, how am I ever going to try something new, or see a new opportunity that God has for me?
I can make stupid mistakes sometimes. We all can. Mistakes that we look back on and we laugh at our stupidity. Mistakes that are made in a situation that we probably should've already known what to do in. For example, as a teenager I have adults all around me trying to help me with perspective on situations and the world. A lot of advice that my peers and I have been given lately revolves around dating relationships. We are told that while dating can be fun at our age, the likelihood of these relationships ending in marriage is very low, and that it is silly to think we are in love with a person after knowing them for only days. But sometimes we just need to test that out. We dream big, and sometimes we fall flat on our faces. God, though, is always there to lift us up, telling us to try again, or to try differently.
Think about it. When we are pessimistic all the time, or we let what we are being taught (even if we trust the people teaching us) hold us back, we can't achieve what God wants for us. So sometimes we fail, sometimes we mess up, sometimes we get hurt. And maybe that was in God's plan, and maybe it wasn't. But God always uses everything in our lives for the better, even if we can't see it. We learn lessons that we wouldn't have learned otherwise. Or maybe the bad thing that has happened actually stopped something worse from happening. We may never know. We need to trust that God loves us, though, and that He wants the best for us.
Everyone holds themselves back from things. Everyone. We've all had those little inward battles with ourselves, those fights that happen inside our minds. For instance, there's another student walking down the hall who drops his books.
See? You know what I'm talking about. And very often when we have those little fights in our mind, we end up doing the wrong thing. We hold ourselves back from doing God's work in the world. So I guess that my advice to you, and to myself, today is to not hold yourself back. Dream big, pray, and trust in God. When you hear God telling you to do something, take that leap of faith, and do it, no matter what the consequences could be. Let the love of God shine through you.
You know, I have a lot of friends who look down on me sometimes because of mistakes I've made. Or because of how I look at situations. I am extremely optimistic, that's just how I am. I look to the future and I think big, I dream, I hope. And yes, lot's of times I get let down. But there are many more times when I achieve so much more than I ever could if I wasn't dreaming. It's in those times, when I know that something is a long shot, that I really learn to trust God. I ask Him to help me, to lead me, and to guide me. I know that this world that God has made is beautiful, full of awesome opportunities, and I know that He has a plan for each of us. If I'm always pessimistic, always looking on the bad side of things, how am I ever going to try something new, or see a new opportunity that God has for me?
I can make stupid mistakes sometimes. We all can. Mistakes that we look back on and we laugh at our stupidity. Mistakes that are made in a situation that we probably should've already known what to do in. For example, as a teenager I have adults all around me trying to help me with perspective on situations and the world. A lot of advice that my peers and I have been given lately revolves around dating relationships. We are told that while dating can be fun at our age, the likelihood of these relationships ending in marriage is very low, and that it is silly to think we are in love with a person after knowing them for only days. But sometimes we just need to test that out. We dream big, and sometimes we fall flat on our faces. God, though, is always there to lift us up, telling us to try again, or to try differently.
Think about it. When we are pessimistic all the time, or we let what we are being taught (even if we trust the people teaching us) hold us back, we can't achieve what God wants for us. So sometimes we fail, sometimes we mess up, sometimes we get hurt. And maybe that was in God's plan, and maybe it wasn't. But God always uses everything in our lives for the better, even if we can't see it. We learn lessons that we wouldn't have learned otherwise. Or maybe the bad thing that has happened actually stopped something worse from happening. We may never know. We need to trust that God loves us, though, and that He wants the best for us.
Everyone holds themselves back from things. Everyone. We've all had those little inward battles with ourselves, those fights that happen inside our minds. For instance, there's another student walking down the hall who drops his books.
I know that I should go and help him, I know it, but if I do, I might be late for class. Or maybe he doesn't want my help. What if someone makes fun of me? But then again, what if he just needs someone to be there for him? What if he thinks nobody cares? Plus it's what Jesus would do.
See? You know what I'm talking about. And very often when we have those little fights in our mind, we end up doing the wrong thing. We hold ourselves back from doing God's work in the world. So I guess that my advice to you, and to myself, today is to not hold yourself back. Dream big, pray, and trust in God. When you hear God telling you to do something, take that leap of faith, and do it, no matter what the consequences could be. Let the love of God shine through you.
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