Behind The Mask

You are beautiful!  You are powerful!  You are inspirational!  You are pure in spirit!  You were created for greatness!  Nothing can separate you from the love of God!

The problem today is that many in the world have been sold a mask to wear.  What are these masks?  Guilt.  Pressure. Expectations.  Performance based approval and affection.  Comparison.  Shame.  Religion.  Insecurity.  Distortion.  Lies.

The weight of these things can keep us from being our beautiful selves.  We toil and work so hard to please people, achieve, and become everything to everyone, and in the midst of it all we lose who we are; beautiful.  We lose sight of who God created us to be and when we look in the mirror, we only see discrepancy.  When we were little we could look in the mirror physically and spiritually and see what God sees in us; greatness, beauty, value, purpose, and passion.  As we grew up and the world pressed in, we become callous and jaded only seeing fault, shortcoming and failure in all that we do.

We need to be reminded that we ARE just as God created us, and He still sees that value, that beauty, that grace in us.  It’s high time we circle back to that child like vision and begin to see clearly again who we ARE in the midst of this dark and superficial world.  Beautiful.

“You are all together beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.” – Song of Solomon 4:7

The Beauty Within

There’s nothing more that I love in a person than pure unadulterated, raw beauty.  Inside as well as outside, there is nothing I find more beautiful than a person being fully and unashamedly themselves; no make-up, no defenses, no fraudulence, no excuses, just embracing all of who God made them to be.

“Do not let your adorning  be [only] external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be [also] the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” 1 Peter 3:3-4

Although TV, magazines and catalogues will paint a different picture, indeed beauty is much, much deeper than the outer appearance of our being.  We spend so much time fussing with the imperfections that we see in the mirror and primping and prepping our outer selves to be seen by the world, while we give little to no attention to the inward appearance of our hearts, our souls, or our character.  It is my belief that if you work on caring for the inner parts of your beauty, you’ll need very little primping and prepping on the outside, because inside beauty radiates 100 times the light and makes your outer countenance and appearance beam with beauty.

This brings to mind, a movie I once saw in my earlier years; the storyline in a nutshell was that this man was so hung up on the outer appearances of ladies, that he couldn’t see through to the true character of a woman.  He happened to cross paths with a famous motivational speaker who secretly hypnotized this guy so that he could only see a woman for what she was on the inside.  Suddenly he was seeing the beauty on the inside of a woman showing on the outside, and likewise seeing the ugliness of a woman’s heart being worn on her face and body.

The point is this… take a look around you, all the plastic surgery in the world cannot reverse the undeniable fact that you’re going to age, and your beauty will eventually fade on the outside, but what’s on the inside of you; your character, your heart and your spirit, will radiate through for eternity and no matter how many wrinkles or grey hairs you come across in your life,  you will always be radiant and beautiful to those you cross paths with if you’ve spent time cultivating the beauty within.

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”  Proverbs 31:30 

Take care of your outer appearance because your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and your beauty radiates the beauty and creativity of God.  Take care even more to your soul, for your character reflects the heart of God and attracts those around you to the life everlasting.

Death By Comparison

“Comparison is the death of true self-contentment.” – John Powell

• “Barb is a much better wife than I am, I can never find time to iron my husbands shirts like she does.”
• “I wish I had legs like Sherry, she’s so perfect.”
• “I’m not as graceful at homeschooling as Lisa is, her kids are far more behaved than mine.”
• “I wish my hair was long and thick like Stacey, I just have this thin hair that I can’t do anything with.”

We hinder ourselves with these kind of thoughts!

If it’s one thing that I try to drive home with my kids is that everyone has value.  It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, what you’re great at or what you could use improvement in, you have value.  Just as everyone has value, everyone also has weakness and imperfections.  There is no such thing as a perfect person, situation or life, do not be fooled by this thinking.  We tend to point out and see all of our own shortcomings whether physically or spiritually, but then on the same token see all the ways somebody else has it all together and then we begin to compare ourselves and become dissatisfied with who we are and where we are.  The reason people have strength in areas is because THEY WORK ON IT!  If you feel you could use improvement in certain areas that would benefit you or your family and the Kingdom then pray, seek, and get to work!

Get your eyes off of the concerns of others and stay focused on who you are and where God is leading you, comparison is just a distraction from obtaining the greatness God has placed in you, don’t let it grip you!  Everything in life is all about perspective.  If you seek fault you’ll find it.  If you pursue gratitude and positivity you’ll find there’s a whole lot in this world and in who you are to be thankful for and appreciate.

“In everything, give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1Thesselonians 5:8

Get out from behind the mask that life has put on you, be you, just you.  Pursue all that God has for you, and radiate the beauty inside and out.  YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Be blessed on your beautiful journey ~ Rheanna