Today I want to share something that God’s been working on in me through Nature, over the last few years. It comes down to this verse.
John 12:24-26
Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
Okay, Valerie where are you going with this??
Stick with me.
There is a cultural expectation programed into women at a young age, that beauty = value. It’s a sad truth, but it’s there hidden in most advertisements, TV shows, and movies. Beauty has some strict parameters from the worlds view, and whether or not you’ve fit in the cultural ‘shape’ that’s expected. Then you have kids.
Having kids changes everything multiplied by how many kids you have, and the changes grow exponentially.
But let’s look back at the John twelve verse.
“unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
Nature shows us this best. Beauty has its purpose, but beauty has to change in order for fruit to grow. The flower has to die in order for the seeds of future beauty to be released into the world. So, if a flower remains a flower and never changes in time there wouldn’t be any flowers at all. How sad would that be?
And the same is true for us mothers. We have to come to a place of acceptance of our post-baby body. (Preaching to myself here) Our bodies did some amazing things by growing another human being. It stretched, shifted, rerouted blood flow, fed two beings at once, and squeezed a bowling ball out of…well I think you get my drift.
We need to redefine what beauty is.
Beauty is Sacrifice
Beauty is Selfless
Beauty is Humble
Beauty is Compassion
Beauty “is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instruction with kindness. She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her…” Proverbs 31:25-28
Beauty is not a number on a scale or jean size.
But how do we start to change a mentality that has been ingrained so deeply in us in women?
We start by recognizing our negative patterns-
We have to “capture our thoughts and make them obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5) We have to recognize when we are tempted to compare ourselves to others or even when we bad mouth ourselves in the mirror. Cause we know we do that.
The only way to combat a lie is with truth and thankfulness.
So, the next time you look in the mirror and negative thoughts start to surface.
Say thank you to God for the gift of our children
Say thank you to God for a body that can do hard and amazing things
And reminding ourselves that God defines our beauty not the world.
These mental patterns can be just as debilitating as depression and anxiety. Often it takes others to step in and help us take ground in how we talk to the reflection in the mirror.
The next time you catch yourself disliking your body or comparing yourself to another person, take the time to recognize what your body has done and claiming that God makes good things and nothing else.