Beautiful.

Beauty. As a woman, it's something that my life seems to revolve around. Or at least I'm told it should.

By the world, it's physical. The way I look. How much I weigh. My hairstyle. Makeup. Clothes.

Spiritually, its' inner. What flows from your heart. Being the hands and feet of Christ.

Here is something I read in a devotional this morning:

What is satisfaction? Hollywood insists that it includes "beauty" and must be pursued by all means and to all ends. We are asked to believe that to be truly satisfied with ourselves we must be truly beautiful. Yet in Isaiah 53, we read about Jesus: "There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him" (Isaiah 53:2). Apparently, in God's value system, appearance is not that important! It's what people do because of who they are that matters in the highest place, not how they dress it up or paint it on.

I must confess, I am rarely satisfied with how I look. I try not to dwell on it, but when I see all the fit and trim people jogging (seriously they're everywhere here) and know that I used to look like that too, I can't help but think I need to get it together.

Oh how babies change EVERYTHING.

I never really thought about Jesus not being handsome, or "beautiful" as Isaiah says. I try not to let the various depictions of him dictate how I think he might have looked, but I think I still like to think of him as a Jim Caviezel.

The point of course is not whether Jesus was handsome or not, but that in God's eyes, it made no difference. He could have made him to look however he wanted, but he chose for him to be plain looking, "nothing to attract us to him."

But people were attracted to him. Not because of his appearance, but because of his heart. He loved people. Genuinely. Not I will pretend to care so I can feel good about myself love, but real, true compassion and care for others.

I know that God doesn't care about my appearance. Sure he wants me to be healthy and to take care of myself, but not as a means of affirmation or attention.

I've been struck by the words of this song lately. I've listened to it many times, but there are days when it just hits me how true the words are, and how often I don't believe them:

Days will come when you don't have the strength
And all you hear is you're not worth anything
Wondering if you ever could be loved
And if they truly saw your heart
They'd see too much

You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
You are treasured, you are sacred, you are His
You're beautiful

Don't let the world tell you you're not good enough. When you focus on that, it takes away from the beautiful things you could be doing because of who you are in Christ. It's a challenge for me, but I have lots of wonderful examples of Godly women around me who are beautiful because of how they love.

From your heavenly Father's perspective, you are beautiful because he created you. You are treasured, and sacred-because you are his. Whether or not you believe it, he loves you. Whether or not you believe it, in his eyes, you are worth everything. That's why he sent his beloved son to this earth-to take the blame for you sins so you could be ushered back into his presence, reconciled and blameless, washed and clean. 

Of all the earth and skies above, you're the one He madly loves enough to die.

Not because of how you look, or what you've done to earn it, or who you're trying to be. 

 Because you are His.

You're beautiful, in His eyes.