Parenting Resource :: What Is Beautiful
I highly recommend the wonderful children’s book, What is Beautiful, by Abby Smith Sprunger. Consider a journey with yourself and your family to re-discover what God declares as beautiful. Is God beautiful? Amazing? Well, if you believe you were made in His image, then you are indeed beautiful. God loves what He created. Start a journey to believing it, and pass this gift on to your children and their children!
The following excerpts are taken from this Parent Cue article.
One of the greatest gifts you can give your daughter is to embark on your own journey with beauty—how has it shaped and informed and possibly infected your narrative? Who comes to mind when you think of beauty? Who holds some of your earliest memories surrounding “what is beautiful?” Understanding and living out our beauty is a lifelong conversation. It can’t happen overnight, and it takes different shapes through our different seasons. Until we know God’s beauty imaged in us, we’re unable to truthfully impart such a reality to our daughters. And it’s never too late. Wherever your journey finds you today is right where God will meet you.
Women are the last mentioned in God’s created order, and arguably the most complex of His creativity, in a phenomenal sort of way. We can’t cause our beauty, for beauty transcends what mankind can create. You are beautiful because God is beautiful, and you are made in God’s image. In the book, Song of Solomon, which is a love poem between a man and a woman, the man tells the woman: “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you” (Song of Solomon 4:7, ESV).
What does this mean when we’re struggling with our beauty though? What does it mean when we’re ten (or two hundred) pounds above where we’d like to be, or notice yet another nagging chin hair, or feel lonely and insecure and bloated?
Choose kindness toward yourself. We often speak about “kindness” as part of the fruit of the Spirit, but we rarely remember it’s a personal invitation inward as much as it is something we are to display outward. You are treasured and made in the image of God. Consider inviting another person to speak truth over your beauty—a trusted therapist, spouse, or safe friend.
Resist vocally critiquing yourself . . . negative statements about your body do zero good, and in fact, they’re detrimental. Your daughter looks up to you in ways you cannot fathom, so at some foundational level, hatred of yourself is communicating hate to her. It’s one thing to say, “Hmm, I’m not sure this outfit is a good fit for me tonight,” but it’s another thing to hatefully say to the mirror, “I’m so fat; nothing fits me.” (I’m not saying resist acknowledging weakness and tendencies to sin, but in those recognitions, do remember the Cross—you are not “just a weak sinner,” but a saint who struggles with sin, and will always need Jesus on this side of Heaven.)
Be honest with your daughter about times of wrestling with God’s truths. (“I know He says I’m fearfully and wonderfully made, but sometimes I struggle to believe it. I’m still learning about beauty with you . . .”) This is a very different conversation than mere verbal critiques of yourself.
Be honest with God—He can handle you, and whatever you’re thinking. You needn’t hide that profanity you spoke over your love-handles yesterday, or the stress you took out when eating the gallon of ice cream last night. He knows, He hears, He sees . . . and He wants you to acknowledge His presence with you in these moments. Psalm 139 is often a good starting point.
While we’re here, why don’t you spend a few minutes before stepping back into life speaking some words of kindness over the miracle of yourself and your body, even those parts that are still in process?
True beauty, confidence, security and identity is found in Jesus. God created the outside and He LOVES what He created but He values your heart.
It seems harder and harder to explain the concept of beauty to our kids, especially our girls, these days. There are so many conflicting messages about true beauty. We airbrush, we filter, we pose, we pluck and we shave in the name of beauty. Imagine if we didn’t do any of that and we just put a big paper heart over everything and measured ourselves by that? Our children hear our side comments about our thighs or brows. What if we could make it different for our daughters and their daughters and our daughters’ daughters? ⠀ ⠀
Reflect on your own adolescence and self image and spark meaningful conversations with God about beauty and how He sees you. Confess the lies. Adore what He created and share that with your children.
Imagine if we embrace and live out the beauty God created in us? He LOVES what He created. He is passionate about what He created.
In Christ, I was chosen
I am His daughter
I was predestined
I am beautifully and wonderfully made
My salvation is in Christ alone
I am marked with a seal and He sacrificed for my inheritance
I am God’s possession.
To the Praise of His Glory - Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
