“Sometimes people are beautiful.
Not in looks.
Not in what they say.
Just in what they are.”
-Markus Zusak, I Am the Messenger
What is true beauty? Quite often, what is truly beautiful is veiled in such a way that we cannot see it. Why can’t we see it? Maybe because we don’t know where to look. Or maybe because we are blind to seeing what is truly beautiful.
“What is essential is invisible to the eye.” – The Little Prince
Our eyes often fail to see beyond skin, beyond age, beyond clothes, beyond material riches. Only our spiritual eyes can see the kind of beauty that really lasts.
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
LETTER TO JOYCE
I don’t like myself I hate my ugly body… I have no hips and a large waist I”m straight up and down like a boy. My nose is too big and lips too small my teeth too big for my mouth. my feet are huge size nine too big for a woman 5’3″ 130 lbs I’m not good at anything hate my job and can’t stand my husband. How do I feel better about myself. I know I should be thankful for good health I’m able walk talk see and hear have two great children and 6 wonderful grandchildren but I hate my life.
Karen
RESPONSE FROM JOYCE
Dear Karen,
Thanks for writing. You know, there are times when I feel that I don’t like myself so much also. I’m not the fashion model type. I’m not the actress type either. I’m very simple in appearance, not one that I think many people would find attractive. What I’ve realized however is that even if I don’t like myself sometimes, I could still love myself. Those are two very different things because we can like somebody without loving them, and we can love somebody even if we don’t like them so much. Maybe you can begin there, by loving yourself even if you don’t like everything about yourself yet.
In times when I find it more difficult to do so, I remember God’s love for me. Even if I fail Him sometimes, even if I don’t feel I’m as holy as other people are. God still loves me, and He has even died for me when I didn’t even know anything about His love. When I start to see myself through God’s own eyes, I feel thankful, and I also start to love myself, not for my perfections, but for my weakness, for the way God has mercy on me despite all my miseries.
In the end, we are all imperfect anyhow. No matter how beautiful other people are physically, we all grow old, wither and die. In the end, we are not very different after all. What remains is the love we have given, the kind of life we have lived for those we love. That is what we always carry with us, and the more love we are able to have inside, the more beautiful we become! God bless you, Karen. May you see yourself more and more through His loving eyes.
Yours in Prayer,
JOYCE
Loving Yourself Through God’s Eyes
There are times when no matter how hard we try, we feel unable to love ourselves. In such times, we feel its so much easier to love other people. After all, they’re not with us 24 hours in a day We don’t see all their weaknesses. We don’t have to live with their regrets. And we’re not the ones who have to carry their hurts.
In such times, we feel overwhelmed. We don’t have enough strength to accept this person we see in the mirror everyday.
We don’t have enough love to love her. We don’t have enough strength to uplift her when she couldn’t believe in herself anymore.
During such times, I’ve known of a way to help you continue improving your relationship with yourself. And that way is to see yourself through God’s own eyes.
In God’s eyes, there is no condemnation for those who seek His mercy. In God’s eyes, there is no pain too hard to bear nor weaknesses too weak to be overcome by His insurmountable strength.
God can embrace us wholeheartedly, opening us up yet sustaining us and healing us at the same time. God sees all our potentials. God sees our light when all that we can see are our shadows.
God sees this person who falls but who has the power to get up again and again. God sees this person who gets hurt but does not become hard or bitter, only softer, more resilient to change.
God sees you. God cherishes you. God loves you more than anyone could ever love you as you really are.
Where I Fit In
I can’t help it at times, if I trip when I walk
Or I sing some notes out of tune.
I am not like ones you’ve seen
on movie scenes –
Lovely, witty and sweet.
I am not the shy underdog
with a heart of gold,
or that daring adventurous girl
full of charm.
I fall short trying to fit in,
where I cannot fit in,
trying to be beautiful,
trying to be good.
I look at me
and I cannot see
what He sees,
how someone could love
the likes of me.
But as I look into His eyes
all I know
is that I am loved,
every bit of me – loved.
And I fall for Him,
fearfully yet joyfully,
I fall…
I let myself surrender all –
my hurts, my doubts,
my anger, my insecurities.
And they all vanish
at the sight of Him.
I am moved,
I am thrilled,
I am healed,
every bit of me –
accepted and made whole.
Without even trying to,
He changes me.
Into His own likeness,
He fashions me.
And I sink deeper
into His affections,
where I lose myself
without truly being lost,
where I discover another me,
the one I’ve always
been meant to be!
And it doesn’t matter anymore
that I could never fit in
anywhere else,
for there I’ve found my place,
for there I’ve found myself,
the one He sees,
the one He truly loves!
“We all want to be beautiful because we want to be loved. In truth however, it is because God loved us that we become beautiful!”
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The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
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One reply on “To See What’s Truly Beautiful”
Woman can make themselves more appealing to a man, even if they don’t like their bodies and looks. First you can improve your body it doesn’t matter how difficult it may seem and how many times you tried. You just have to find the right pattern for you. Once you find your pattern, it becomes pretty easy. Also, woman can do amazing things with clothes and makeup. You’re all beautiful on the inside, yet sometimes how we present ourselves on the outside can help others see our inner beauty.