You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful

tumblr_mz5uc86D8D1qkww7to1_1280

By Melissa St. Ledger | Guest Blogger | Chastity speaker for Generation Life

I love the video that blew up on YouTube titled, “Dove Real Beauty Sketches.” If you haven’t seen it, watch it. I won’t explain the premise, but just that it reminded me of the fact that most women in America are unsatisfied with their physical appearance. They do not think that they are beautiful at all. Why? Here is a clue: the problem is not that these women are not beautiful.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” While this may be a cute way of saying that the perception of beauty is subjective, I take it as something more than this. Beauty should be in the eye of everyone who beholds the body of a woman (or a man), because it is beauty which they are beholding. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. See the difference? If the viewer cannot see beauty, the problem is the eyes, not the subject.

American media and society has set impossible standards for physical “perfection” of women. They do this mostly through the means of photoshop. Clothing lines, film studios, and advertisement agencies pressure women to lose weight so that they can be the blueprint of perfection. Yet when these women have lost the pounds and weigh in at a not-so-healthy 108 lbs. at 5’10” as it was for the case of now ex-Victoria’s Secret Model Kylie Bisutti, their pictures are still edited to make them look even smaller. Left and right, models are ditching their scantilly-clad careers and turning to something more substantial – Faith. This was also the case for former American’s Next Top Model contestant, Leah Darrow, who now travels the country speaking to young ladies about true beauty.

Like any other woman, I have always wrestled with the question, “Am I beautiful?” During a chastity talk today with middle school girls I was almost brought to tears speaking about this topic. In looking around the room, I was absolutely convinced of their beauty and I told them this. However, I kept asking them, “Do you believe me? Do you believe that you are beautiful?” And their answers were the same. “Nope.” I wanted to cry. And then kick Victoria (if that’s even her real name) in the shins. I knew that I could never convince these little girls of their beauty. It would take the voice of the loving Father to do that, to undo all the knots and lies in their hearts.

So my prayer is that all women grow to understand their true beauty. And I’m not just talking about a cutesy inner-beauty. I am saying that every single inch of you, from your head to your toes, every pore and every hair is literally gorgeous! The kind of beauty that brings you to tears. But if our eyes are foggy and our heads are filled with media messages and rap videos, we will never see this. So put down the Cosmo and open your eyes.

Oh, and by the way, One Direction is wrong when they sing, “You don’t know you’re beautiful…and that’s what makes you beautiful.” You are allowed to know your beauty. In fact most men agree that confidence makes you even more attractive.

P.S. You are enough.

Related Posts

Send this to a friend