Why lipstick ain’t as good as it used to be…
With lipstick smeared and fingernail polish chipped she walks on wobbly feet in her high heels. She awaits her prince charming.
She said she would marry him one day and she meant it. He is after all her first crush. She anticipates his arrival and the three words that make her heart sing, “you are beautiful”. Her daddy is home.
I think girls of all ages long to know someone thinks they are beautiful. Years pass and we are all grown and we are still clamoring within our hearts for that validation.
This world withholds this kind of approval from most of us girls. The requirements of beauty are lengthy and you can find them listed in numerous places. I most often find them on the days I need a cut and color and my gray is shining. Or maybe my pants are a little tight and my makeup has vaporized. I read a sign once that said the average women eats six pounds of lipstick in her lifetime. I’m sure it’s true because I certainly appear to never have any on.
Our lipstick has failed us. So has our scale, our jeans, and every shiny magazine that awaits us at checkout. The Dove Campaign For Real Beauty has some interesting results. Eighty percent of women agree that every woman has something about her that is beautiful but do not see their own beauty. My word, there are a lot of us that feel the same way.
How can we feel beautiful when it seems so unattainable? It’s not enough for others to tell us we are beautiful. What do they know we ask ourselves secretly? We don’t feel pretty. I’m still searching for the answer cause well, you know…
Young women trade their virginity and their reputation to feel it. They Snapchat pictures and hope against hope that he sees pretty. We visit chat rooms, wear clothing that we shouldn’t and have secret conversations searching for…
Proverbs tells us that physical beauty is fleeting. I often look in the mirror and think, who is this woman? I have been kidnapped. Where does this strange woman have me hidden? Real is not cover worthy. Don’t even get me started on plus size stores pinning their clothes on the mannequins to make them look smaller.
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment…Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit…” 1 Peter 3:3-4 (NIV)
Yeah, yeah, I know Lord but it’s a struggle that us girls need help with. You know that beautiful bodies are the things that we feel we must run after – sometimes at all cost.
So what I offer you today is what I take for myself. We’ve got to know what we don’t feel. If we don’t begin to believe God and get this now, we will leave this world behind thinking we need something we have. We will long for what already lies within us.
How, Oh Lord, how? Help us to grasp the beauty You see in us. We just don’t see it ourselves. Will You send us sweet friends to remind us of our beauty? Will you enable us to be that sweet friend to others? Will You speak to our hearts in the stillness of our time alone with You? Will You sing over us the words of Song of Songs “Behold, you are beautiful my love, behold, you are beautiful!…You are altogether beautiful my love; there is no flaw in you.” And, give us the strength to believe sweet Jesus. Amen.
Joining with other write
Jennifer Dukes Lee – #TellHisStory Holly Barrett – Testimony Tuesday
Susan B. Mead – #DanceWithJesus Barbie Swihart – The Weekend Brew
Kelly Balarie – #raralinkup
Kathy Gossen – Titus 2 Tuesday
Have you seen this video? It seems to fit the theme of this post. Sad that women have trouble seeing their own beauty, but great that they can see the beauty in others!
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/dove-hires-criminal-sketch-artist-draw-women-they-see-themselves-and-others-see-them-148613
Andrea those sketches were amazing! Why or why can’t we see ourselves as God see us? Even as other see us. Help us Jesus! Thanks for stopping by and sharing!
I love this Carmen! I have 2 daughter and long for them to see how beautiful they are in Jesus’ eyes and value themselves the same way … then I have to ask myself, “Do I?” Thank you linking up with #RaRaLinkup
Oh girl, I ask myself why I don’t give myself the same value I give others often. Sounds like you are pouring into those girls of yours beautifully. Thanks Katy for visiting!
I have a whole story I could tell of natural beauty and how I’ve been hurt by supposedly well meaning “friends” because I don’t wear make up and I have a bad case of rosacea. I have considered make-up before but my husband says that he thinks I’m beautiful just as I am. Sometimes I believe him forgetting about my skin problems then other times I look in the mirror or someone has to ask me what’s wrong with my face and I struggle. I’ve thought about writing a blog post about this very thing but haven’t brought myself to do it. I really enjoyed this encouraging post, Carmen. I’m glad I found you at the #DanceWithJesus link up.
Anastacia how sweet and honoring that your husband affirms you in this way. He’s a keeper :) I started wearing makeup early. You are making a stand for a belief you have and I applaud that. Write that post. You have a voice in this discussion that needs to be heard. I so appreciate your honesty and transparency. That is beautiful within itself. Blessings to you! Thanks for visiting.
Carmen, what an amazing post! When I was in college I worked as a Substitute Teacher at a high school and my heart often ached for teens and young women who hadn’t realized their beauty and worth. Reading your post has set a fire in my heart to truly seek THE LORD in prayer on this. Thank you so much for sharing this! Infinite blessing to you, Love! :-)
Tai you are such an encourager and definitely one that pours out love and acceptance. You just keep doing what you do best and the ones you are in contact with will feel Jesus.
Beautifully written, my dear. Beautifully! I have been one of those girls. But the hand of the Lord….oh, when He comes into the picture, healing things happen. On a different note, I had to laugh because just this morning I was making notes about this very topic and was watching a Dove video. :-) Then, I read your post. Go get ’em, girl!
Hey Kristi! You carry beauty inside and out. Thanks for the encouragement! Blessings on your pen!
Beautiful post, Carmen. I loved what Phyllis said up there too. This is such an important topic for women, isn’t it? I wrote a post on this same 1 Peter verse, but I think you’ve hit the nail on the head when you say that we longed for that affirmation for our dads first. (I was pretty fortunate in that department, but know so many women who were not.) I look forward to sharing this on social media!
Thank you Betsy for being so supportive friend. You are blessed indeed with a dad who gave you the gift of affirmation. I loved what Phyllis shared to :)
Hi, it’s good to read something from you.The words that came to mind as I read were “the beauty of holiness”. While I am not quite totally blind yet, I realized that there’s another blessing in not being able to see – I don’t see my physical flaws, which is good because I have plenty other flaws to go around. Thank you for writing.Blessings!
Hi Carolyn! I’m so glad you visited today. I look forward to meeting you in July. Looking for the good in a bad situation is so encouraging. Thanks for stopping by!
I love that quote. We often search for outside beauty and fail to realize we have it inside us all along. :)
Stay beautiful!
Thanks Lux! Glad you visited today!
Hi Carmen! This is such a great topic I wrote a post about this too, and I think we can’t hear it enough. Who should tell us that we are beautiful? I think it’s us.
We all look around for standards of beauty, but again, who sets those? God made us perfectly, and we are perfect in his eyes. I must strive to see myself in his eyes.
Nice to meet you! From #Ra-Ra lInkup,
Ceil
Well hello Ceil! Nice to meet you as well. I love when several of us write on the same topic. That means God is saying something loud and clear. Blessings to you friend!
So true. You get to the point…you think what’s the use? Or why do I go to the trouble? I just need strength to get thru another day. Oh well, God has been good to me. I thank him for every day and pray for his watch care over me. I have very little physical pain, and blessed with some good Christian friends and family.
It’s good to see you in the comments today Aunt Mattie. You have had a hard, difficult season. I’m glad you have lots of love surrounding you. Keep your eyes on God. He is the healer of broken hearts. Love you!
Carmen,
Your beautiful words brought tears to my eyes. How very true that we never outgrow the need to feel loved and highly valued. What a precious gift for your little one to have a daddy to tell her she is beautiful. We make an effort to tell our girls as well. I wish my dad had made me feel loved and special.
Blessings,
Kamea
Kamea, my dad never told me I was beautiful either. If he did, I don’t remember it. I did not grow up feeling pretty. And, now that I am all grown up, I don’t feel that way most days. Satan loves to rob us of that doesn’t he? My husband did those things for our girl and I love that about him. May we all know and believe what God says about us. Blessings right back your way.
Amen! This is a topic I am very passionate about. You did such a great job addressing such delicate issue. Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks so much. I struggle with this and I speak to myself as much as others.
I have read that beauty arises, that we are most beautiful, in those moments when we are free of the demands of our own ego. When we are peacefully and lovingly going about our lives. When we are smiling and laughing and at peace in our own skin, in other words, when we are free of self-focused, self-centered thoughts and when we are not busy being self absorbed, we are often focused on meaningful tasks or on listening to others. It is then, that our hearts, minds and energy fields are more Christ-like and the experience that others have when they are in our presence, a beautiful one. We are beautiful when we feel beautiful.
Nice words huh? Laughter!! Notice how the word Photoshop, and any of the things it can “enhance”, don’t even appear in that paragraph? I spend a great deal of my life in a business in which Photoshop plays a key role. And even knowing the myriad ways that Photoshop is used to create unrealistic ideas about beauty, I still fall victim to the very things that you wrote today Carmen. Thank you for inspiring me to dig deeper and look somewhere other than the mirror for my own.
Beautifully written Phyllis. As I sit here and ponder your thoughts, I pray I remember your words. That all who read these comments remember them. Thank you for sharing.
“We’ve got to know what we don’t feel.” So true, and something I try to drive home to my daughters. That last paragraph really hit home with me, and I’m going to be pondering on that for a while. I truly don’t want to leave this world longing for something I already have. Thanks for this.
Kara if you can instill that into your daughters, what wonderful thing you will given then. I honestly don’t remember anyone telling me I was beautiful as a child or young teen. Maybe they did, but I sure don’t remember it. I am so glad you are giving that to your girls. I’m glad you stopped by for a visit friend.
Carmen, I love this post. So true. So true. We chase after what we already have. How twisted up we get when it comes to being comfortable in our own skin. Thanks for a call it like it is post. Linking with you at Tell His Story.
Welcome Ginger! The more I age, the more I chase after beauty. God’s still working on me :) I’m glad you stopped by!
Carmen, your beautiful face is what made me click on your post for the first time. Then I got to meet your beautiful heart! So grateful for your words today. They are most certainly true — it’s easier to see beauty in others than in ourselves.
Well hello Jenni! Thank you my friend. I am blushing :) You are always a breath of fresh air whenever you visit. <3
Carmen, beautiful words today for #tellhisstory and encouraging us to believe in our beauty that God sees. Have a great day, Kim
Hey Kim! Believing God when it concerns ourselves seems so difficult sometimes. I’m glad He just keeps on telling us how precious we are to Him. Thanks for visiting!
Hi Caremen, I came over from the Ra Ra link up. I loved reading these encouraging words that you shared. It’s sad, isn’t it, how we’re often so much harder on ourselves than we are on others. I never look at someone else and think they’re ugly, but I do it to myself on my bad days. What you’ve shared here is so true. We need to remember what God says about us and believe it.
You are so right Dawn. I never do that to others but, I can to myself. Thanks for visiting today!
Wonderful words this morning. Every girl and every woman should hear these words. Thank you for everything you do. You are a Classy Lady. Love you much. May God continue to use your words and thoughts.
Aww Sharon, thank you. I appreciate your sweet words. I wish all of us girls knew how beautiful we were to God. Love you too.
Thank you for giving us this reminder today. Real beauty comes from within and can’t help but show on the outside. Like you said others can see it but we can’t seem to see it in ourselves. He has made us beautiful. We are all unique and beloved daughters of God. We can see it in others. Why can’t we see it in ourselves? I appreciate your prayer at the end. May God bless you, Carmen. You are beautiful!
Thank you my beautiful friend Gayl. I wish we could see myself as God sees us. I, like you, want too. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?! Thanks for stopping by for a visit!