beauty

Oh, the mirror.

Sometimes I love it (because it’s helpful)…sometimes I hate it (because it’s not helpful). You know those days where you feel pretty great and feel good and strong and alive, and then wam! The mirror. The mirror that tells you that you don’t look pretty or good or beautiful. The mirror that gleefully points out every little flaw or wrinkle or perceived excess. The mirror that makes you want to curl up in a little teensy ball and stay hidden away in your bedroom forever because you just don’t like what you see.

I hate that mirror.

I’ve given that mirror far too much power over my heart in the past years.

I’ve had that mirror threaten to ruin date nights out with my husband, because even though I had been feeling gorgeous with hair-that-actually-went-like-I-wanted-it-to, a little extra makeup, and a pretty dress on…I take one wrong glace in the mirror and suddenly I go from feeling gorgeous to feeling anything but beautiful. And then I sit in the car and try to think about what I can do to make myself beautiful…what can I do to get ride of this feeling of un-beautiful? When really, there is nothing I can do. I am myself, and I am beautiful. It’s not a matter of changing anything little thing about myself. It’s about changing what I believe.

Months ago, I heard this line from a song that resonated so deeply and gave me such hope for a better way: His eyes are my mirror.

His eyes. God’s eyes.

Not my eyes.

My eyes will lie to me every time. My eyes can only see the physical, and beautiful doesn’t come from the physical. Beautiful is an essence that is felt, an essence that is lived and breathed. Everything around us tells us that beautiful is what you see. But that’s not true: beautiful is a presence. It’s a belief.

It’s too easy to confuse pretty with beautiful, but they are not the same thing. You can spend your whole life being pretty, but that doesn’t make you beautiful. Beauty is an essence, not a physical quality. Beauty is something people feel from you, not what they see about you.

Many times throughout my day or week, I have to stop and consciously look in the right mirror. I have to turn my eyes away from the mirror in my bedroom and turn my heart and thoughts to the mirror in His eyes. That mirror is the only one that will offer me reality, the only one that will inspire hope and kindness, the only one that will give me Truth. My bedroom mirror will lie to me, but the one in His eyes never will.

What about you: do you find the relationship with the physical mirror to be a tumultuous one as well?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

I was thinking about beauty again the other day…thinking about what makes a woman beautiful.

Is there that one thing that we can say universally makes a woman beautiful? Is there a character, personality, body feature, or style that is the definition for beautiful? I know a ton of beautiful woman, but the thing is…they are all different. They look different, act different, relate different, dress different. But they are all breathtaking and gorgeous and unique. So is there one thing that makes a woman truly beautiful?

I say yes, there is.

There is only one thing that makes a woman beautiful. It’s universal, and it doesn’t change as age and life takes it toll on skin tone and hair color. The thing that makes a woman beautiful: H E R S E L F.

Herself.
Yourself.
Myself.

That is what makes us beautiful. Nothing else. Not our bodies, not our personalities, not our achievements. Not if we laugh gracefully like a little fairy or with belly-laugh abandon…not if we dress in classics or with hippie flair…not if we’re single or have a house full of children…not if we have fun putting on makeup or if we never wear a stitch of it…not if we feel beautiful or not…none of this makes us who we are.

You.

You are what makes you beautiful.

And I know it’s so hard to believe that…sometimes it feel impossible to believe that. The days where our shortcomings and imperfections glare at us and dare us to even entertain the thought of being beautiful…the days where we feel anything but beautiful. But it’s true…you are beautiful, and the thing that makes you so is Y O U.

Sometimes I find it almost fascinating the onslaught that the enemy hurls at us as woman in this realm of beauty. Some days I’m like, “really? again? seriously, find a new dagger to throw at me…you’ve been doing this one for years.” And I love the days where I feel strong and ready to fight back and feel the Truth. It’s liberating and makes me feel amazing. But it’s a battle…we are truly in a battle, sweet friends.

If there is anything I can offer you today, it’s this: hope, courage, and determination to shut the ears of your heart to those viscous lies from the enemy of your soul…the enemy of your beauty. He’s out to get you, but you are stronger. You can win. It’s hard, yes, and sometimes we lose…but you can win. You can let Truth win.

Sometimes you have to say it out-loud…you have to let the lies know they have to leave. I was out walking the other day, and within thirty minutes, I had worked myself into a terrible funk. I felt fat and horrible and ugly and awful. It happened slowly…just one little thought and feeling at a time…until I suddenly realized what was going on. And I told it to go away and start speaking the Truth, and by the time I walked back into the house, my happiness was back. That whole “resist the devil and he will flee from you” thing? Do it.

May you hear only those kind words of love today in your heart.

What about you: do you find it hard to really believe that you are what makes you beautiful? How do you resist the devil in this particular battle?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

P H O T O B Y Lyndsi Photography | Instagram |Facebook