Image is everything!

I hope you hear me out on this one and read all the way to the end before disagreeing with my comments. As you can see in the pictures I've posted I am no supermodel. Nope. Never gonna have a chance at being one of those. Not with my 5-2" size, 100-something pound, had 5 babies, now-look-at-me shaped body. Just not what Vogue or Cosmopolitan or CoverGirl are into these days.
But that's not the point. For some reason, (maybe it was the audition of the big girl slapping her backside for Simon, Paula and Randy on American Idol last night), I was thinking of all the negative things I've said about myself through the years. I'm sure there will be more complaints as I continue to mature and age with time...and compare myself to the "beauty standard" that mainstream media presents to me in various ways. My thoughts were this. Why do I say bad things about myself? [Note: I don't do this nearly as much as I used to. I'm basically a "what you see is what you get" kind of girl now. But occasionally I comment to Chip about some less than perfect charactersitic I would like to change...]
So I started thinking about the reality in my life and I think it pertains to all of us. I believe that we are all created by God. That's the basis of my following deep thoughts. Thus, if we are all created by God, we are in the exact body with the exact mind and soul that He has chosen us to live in. I believe that we can grow and change and gain or lose weight and gain
{or lose!} knowledge and all that wonderful stuff, but we are basically bound to the overall "package" that we've been created into. Does that make sense?
Therefore, we need to accept it and love it and thank God for it. We are a "product" of Superior design. And what?! We complain that it's not good enough? Or talented enough? Or small or big or funny or whatever it is we wish for more of in ourselves. That's terrible. And it's striking. Which is exactly what I hope you will pause and think about. Just for a moment or two, and maybe it will change the way you feel about yourself for a bit. Until you start watching tv, or see a movie, or pick up a magazine or go to the SuperBowl party that your hot "friend" is at that your husband always says, "Her? I don't think she's great looking. You were the best looking person at the party all day. And hey, what did you think about those BBQ meatballs. Those were tasty, huh!"
Okay. I think what I am trying to say is that we all need to love ourselves in the personhood we are and to recognize that we are "perfect" just the way we are. Sure there are always little areas or big areas for some of us to work on, but when it comes down to it, we are great to the One who has designed us.
Have your kids or someone else's little kids ever made something with playdough and they come running to you or call you over to the table to come "see what I made!" Then when you see the lump of blue-swirled clay in their hands you smile- but you say, "I love it! What is it?" You can't tell just by looking at it, but the child knows just what it's supposed to be. A dog, or a duck or a boat. They are so proud.
Did you ever think that in a quirky sort of way that's how God sees you? Not as a swirly-mixed up lump of playdough, but as a creation that He designed and is beaming with pride for! He made you and it is precisely the flaws and unique qualities that make us special to Him. Maybe when He made you He thought to Himself, "I've never made anybody with a nose like THAT before! Cool!" I'm thinking, now that I'm in my 30's and I'm married and nobody cares what I look like anymore, maybe now I should start loving myself just the way I am. Maybe the things I dislike most about myself or wish I could changes are the very things that God hand-picked to make me special in His eyes. Wow. This got really long. I guess you decided to read it through to the end anyway. I hope you go away from here loving the "worst" charactersitics about yourself, if only for a moment. And remember, to God you are perfect in His sight. And His opinion is ultimately the only one that matters in the end anyway. See? I told you, Image IS everything...when you see yourself as God sees you!!