Understandably, there is so much talk today about self-esteem and finding our own beauty.

Human nature, culture and the endless media seem to have backed us into a corner with a broken mirror that exposes and exaggerates our flaws and failings.  We’re compared to airbrushed beauty and unattainable perfection.

There is a new doll recently created that is called the ‘Normal Barbie’, with proportions of the average 17-year-old, in an attempt to change the thinking of young girls of all shapes and sizes as to what healthy and beautiful really looks like.

A few months ago, I got sucked into an internet program that focused on helping women to find the style, clothes and accessories that accurately match their personality.  I believe the words “true beauty” were used in reference to what would happen when a woman’s personality style and wardrobe were in sync.

Both of these things might be helpful, but only at the surface level.  It might make me accept my body type as it is or help me fix a wardrobe dilemma.

But does it really quiet the inner voice in us that says, “You are not enough”?  Does it breed contentment in our hearts and souls?

What if…

What if we tweaked the message we’re sending our daughters, that we’re saying to ourselves?  What if we could embrace the truth that we are loved by the Creator of the Universe, the Great Artist who wove and sculpted and skillfully painted us, literally from the inside out?  What if we remembered that before our tiny pea-sized hearts even started beating inside our mothers’ wombs, His fingers were busy shaping, lovingly whispering His plan over us?  That He wasn’t just creating something beautiful to look at, but something lovely to impact the world.  To share His love.  To touch lives.

What if we remembered that our beauty doesn’t come from what we do to (makeup, clothes, etc.)  or for (self-improvement, exercise, etc.) ourselves but what we offer to God and others?

What if we noticed that when our hearts are in tune and our hands are at work at doing what that Master Artist spoke into our tiny ears at conception we find ourselves focused on the beauty of Him and of others?  As if by magic, we feel begin to feel beautiful, not because of anything we’ve done but because we know we are fully accepted and adored and are exactly where we are supposed to be, doing exactly what He’s called our hearts to do – Loving God, Loving People.  That true inner beauty that we hear so much about but that so few actually experience.  The importance of the perception of myself fades and melts into the background with the sweet contentment of my identity and security leaning deeply into the heart of Jesus.

Only the artist of a great piece of art knows its true value and meaning.  Only the artist knows the time, energy and love that went into making something of such great beauty.  It’s why he signs his name to the piece, which, of course, adds significant value to the art itself.

We are His artwork.  The work of His hands.  Precious.  Valuable.  Meaningful.  BEAUTIFUL.  His name is on our lives and our name is on His palm.  Which makes each of us one of a kind.

Priceless…

Isaiah 64:8 – Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Ephesians 2:19 – For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Genesis 1:27 – So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Psalm 139:13-16 – For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.