Guard Your Heart TRUE BEAUTY EDITION
We live in a body-obsessed culture. Men and women both feel pressured to have the perfect bodies, and we believe so many lies about what a perfect body is and what defines beauty.
As I continue to talk about guarding our hearts another way, we can protect ourselves is to know the TRUTH about beauty and not believe the lies and photo-shopped images that we are surrounded by daily.
Guarding your heart requires you to Fill your heart with TRUTH and cling to that truth when the world tells you lies.
Lie 1. My worth and my beauty is measured by a number on the scale, the size of my jeans, the size of my biceps.
- Truth - I've said this before, but I need to repeat it - your worth is defined by one thing and one thing only...by a God who loves you and who created you wonderfully! If only we could grasp the greatness of God who created the entire universe and yet LOVES little old you and me so much that He knew us before we were born and designed us perfectly, THEN we might understand our worth beyond a number. And not to sound cliche but beauty really is a matter of the heart. I believe it is absolutely true that the most attractive person in the room is the one with a smile on their face exuding kindness and confidence. Not the person in the latest fashions whose all done up, but spewing hate.
- Heart Protection By having a confidence that comes from knowing our value in God's eyes and expressing our confidence through kindness and joy, we will exude true beauty. Our confidence will no longer rely on an ever-changing number on the scale.
Lie 2. The Sports Illustrated swimsuit model or the guy on the cover of GQ magazine is the definition of attractive and what I need to strive for.
- Truth The images of beauty that we see on the cover of magazines are unrealistic and often unattainable. Want proof? Watch this:
- Heart Protection By realizing that the images you see daily in the media are highly touched up, you will protect yourself from trying to live up to a standard that is unrealistic. Stop being so hard on yourself when you look in the mirror. See those pictures for the lies that they are. Set healthy expectations for yourself and believe the true definition of beauty as defined above.
Lie 3. I need to dress provocatively in order to get a guy's attention. Guys like girls who show some skin.
- Truth A good guy respects modesty. I have heard it said like this, Dressing immodestly is like rolling around in manure. Yes, you'll get attention, but mostly from pigs. I like that!
- Heart Protection If you believe that good guys respect modesty, you won't feel the pressure to dress inappropriately, and by holding yourself to a higher standard, you won't set yourself up to be treated like an object. YOU DESERVE MORE. If a guy is only paying attention to you when you dress a certain way, he is likely not a guy who is going to respect you later. The Bible offers a very practical analogy on this very subject when it says A beautiful woman who lacks modesty is like a fine gold ring in a pig's snout. In other words, don't ruin your beauty by revealing too much. By holding yourself to a higher standard, you won't set yourself up to be treated like an object
Here is one of the best descriptions of beauty that I've read: She is a woman of strength and dignity and has no fear of old age. When she speaks, her words are wise, and kindness is the rule for everything she says. Let's strive for that kind of beauty.
TheHopeLine’s eBook on self-worth gives practical advice about things you can do to increase your self-esteem.
Beauty is Love, Hope, Faith, and Humility, it is putting others first, it is wanting to help all people, and loving Unconditionally.
Love Always
The Invisible Man
He, where was the opening teaser. I wanted to respond to that.
True, if you are going to roll in manure. All you get is pigs. But if you use a better better quality "manure", you might attract a bit better quality pigs. And honestly this goes all the way up to the top. We tend to not call it "manure", but at a certain point you get some darn fine guys. Especially since most of the other girls, are still trying to get the pigs of them :P.
It also reminds me of a particular useful reason, why it helps to forgive. Sure what you did wasn't such a good idea. But I guess you where still learning. Let me wash the manure of you, and use what you have learned to do it right. Better at least, because who knows really what is "right". Though I think these people here tend to have some darn fine ideas.
And to be honest. Same goes for guys. Only female pigs tend to not go for "manure" directly. Who knows what they are looking for? I know by now, but I am not telling you. Yet :P.
And if you are confident or capable enough, please skip the pigs directly. They tend to drag you down in there misery. And if you are not confident enough yet I see to options. One I skip, out of respect for this site. But always remember there are good schools and bad schools. The second one, have faith. By the time a student finishes university, he knows a whole lot of things, but not most practical. But in the long run they get the best job ;). But in real life, it is not only book smart that counts if you can get into university ;).
he TheHopeLine, you might want to take a look before I post this ;).