Beauty…what is it really?

I found a blog today called Sarah Markley that I think I’m really going to like. The first post I read was a guest post written by Lacey Keigley and it was about beauty’s standard.  I then discovered that it was a series Sarah was doing and she has several women writing guest posts this week on beauty.

The first one really spoke to me though because I have had similar struggles.  I struggle with not feeling beautiful and not feeling like I look “good” to the world around me.  When I was growing up I was very thin and never had to worry about weight, now that I’m older and have had children I have a weight problem.  It’s not like my weight is out of control or anything but I’m not happy with it.  I also have a thyroid problem and that’s where part of my struggle is – I don’t know if I am even capable of being a thin person anymore.  I haven’t tried to deal with the problem as much as I should have for the last few years but for a long time I did – I ate right, exercised daily, and did things like I was supposed to… and I never lost the weight.  I just kind of gave up and figured why bother!  I don’t really know how much of it is mental and how much of it is physical.  I WANT to work at it, I WANT to eat right, I WANT to exercise, I WANT to lose weight but life has just gotten in the way.   Any maybe with my thyroid condition this is as good as it gets??  I’m not eve sure.

Another issue I have with my “beauty” is my skin.  I have always had skin that breaks out – some days are better than others and it can actually look pretty decent sometimes but sometimes I break out like a teenager.  I’m 38 years old for crying out loud!  I think it’s time to have nice smooth skin for a change!  I’m going to have acne and wrinkles at the same time the way things are going and that’s just ridiculous!  So… that bothers me too.  Can you tell?

My hair is another issue.  I can’t stand it.  It’s straight as a board, no body, no life.  I have to wash it every day because it gets so oily.  That’s the part that bothers me the most.  If I go more than 24 hours it looks like I haven’t washed my hair in a week!  I can’t figure out how to fix that – or if I even can!  I see all of these women with gorgeous hair that has body and life, that has style, and that isn’t hanging flat against their head by the end of the day and I WANT IT!!

Beauty shouldn’t be what SOCIETY says it should be though.  True beauty is what GOD says is beautiful.  Treating others well is beautiful, taking care of our family is beautiful, showing others the love of Jesus is beautiful, and living our lives in a way that is pleasing to God is beautiful.  Those are the things that matter more.  But we, as women, really struggle with that I think.  Our society places so much emphasis on what a woman looks like and has such a strict definition of what beauty is that we fall into that trap of believing that that’s all that matters, of believing that the models and actresses reflect reality for the average woman.  It’s simply not true!

We will be much better off if we can shed that image we have created for ourselves – the one that, for me, says we have to be pencil thin with gorgeous skin and gorgeous hair.  I need to trust in God and know that if I am pleasing to Him then I am doing well.

Just as Lacey shared in her post: “Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”  (Psalm 31:30)

If you want to read more about what others think of beauty and how they deal with it please click the links above or the button below.

I hope you have a beautiful day!