“I don’t like my body.  This part’s too big and I’m too short and…”

A list of body-defects followed as we exited the store.  I looked at the young woman beside me.  There was conviction in her voice.  Sadness filled her eyes as she shared what she didn’t like about herself.  What I saw when I looked at her was a contradiction of what she saw when she looked in the mirror.  I saw a woman of beauty.  I couldn’t see the too big or the too short or the many other negative elements she saw in herself.  I saw beauty.

But, I also saw myself.  I could understand her pain, the feelings of inadequacy that we women feel as we compare ourselves to each other.  I could see the parts of myself that I so disliked – the “this is too big and this is too small and this just doesn’t seem to fit the rest of my body” elements that I see every time I look in the mirror.

“I guess I just don’t like my body,” her voice interrupted my thoughts.

“And you never will.”  I looked into her lovely brown eyes and smiled.  “We have been bombarded with images in magazines, television shows, movies, and advertisements that tell us what we should look like.  We try on clothes and wonder why they don’t fit our bodies the way they fit the model in the poster near the rack.  We look in the mirror and see the little bumps and imperfections on our skin and wonder why the make-up we’ve just applied doesn’t smooth our skin so it looks like the model on the jar.  We are measuring ourselves by the world’s standards and we will never measure up to those standards.”

I smiled at her again, reached over and squeezed her hand as we made our way to the mall exit.  Her fiancé was waiting for us when we reached the door.  His eyes lit up as he took her hand – the hand of his future bride – and walked with pride through the parking lot to the car.

It was much later before she and I could finish our conversation.

“I hope you know that what I said earlier about us never liking our bodies wasn’t meant to be hurtful.”

“I know,” she said with a little smile.

“You, my friend, are a lovely young woman – inside and out.  God created you exactly the way you are for His purpose.  He doesn’t create imperfection.  We – me included – need to stop measuring ourselves by the world’s standards and instead measure ourselves by God’s.  His standards are far greater than the world’s and by His grace we can be who He wants us to be.  When we look in the mirror, we need to allow ourselves to see the incredible beauty God has given us.  And you, precious lady, are beautiful.”

She smiled and hugged me.  “Thank you,” she whispered before leaving the room.

As she walked away, I prayed.  I prayed that she would realize the great worth she has, that she would realize the beauty her future husband sees in her.  I prayed for myself and the other women in my life who see themselves as less than beautiful, that we would see the loveliness God has created in us, to believe His Truth and stop believing the lies of the mirror.

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them…God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Genesis 1:27 and 31a