The Day a Scale Gave Me More than a Number

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By Erin McNew | Guest Blogger

Photo credit: Donna Irene Photography

Today, I ran across a scale that I found to be pretty incredible. Underneath the top where it would read your weight, it said the words “you are beautiful” in purple script.

Okay, so I’m a total sap. I accept that. But it turns out that I’m the kind of sap that just about sheds a few tears in HEB (store in Texas). Because, honestly, this really stuck me. I think that as women we really need things like this in our lives. Because, if you’re anything like me, you probably forget.

I forget that weight is just a number.

I forget that it’s a number only I can see.

I forget that the pound or two fluctuation that I see in my weight isn’t evident to the human eye.

I forget not to let petty things like a number weigh in on my heart.

And I forget that beauty is not measured or dictated by external factors.

As women, I think we do forget. I think that we forget that God doesn’t necessarily make girls like the ones we see on magazine covers. That the girl that we spend countless hours working out to look like doesn’t even look like that. That she’s been slimmed and toned to the specifications and ideals of an individual whose face remains hidden behind the screen of a computer. That she was created by the world.

As women, I think that we forget that our image of beauty is inherently flawed. We forget as we poke and paint and cover and tone that our image of beauty had been largely dictated by the world.

As women, I think that we’ve failed to realize the validity in the words of our earthly fathers. We no longer see the validity in him having told us that we would always be beautiful.

And, as women, I think we’ve lost sight of our heavenly Father. I think that in the process of growing up we managed to convince ourselves that believing in natural, God-given beauty is like believing in fairy tales. That it’s naïve or childish or just false. And we cover some of God’s greatest works of art with a product created with the intention of altering His creation. We’ve taken to fueling an industry that thrives off telling women that they’re not good enough. That if they use this mascara or this eye shadow they will in some way be better, maybe more desirable or attractive. We’ve lost sight of our Father’s creation. And not only have we lost sight of it- we’ve hidden it. We’ve hidden it from the eyes of the people we love thinking that it will please the world.

I’m just as guilty as anyone else. I’m just as guilty or thinking that that little number on a scale somehow directly correlates to people’s perception of my attractiveness. I’m just as guilty of relying on make up to make me beautiful. And I’m just as guilty of taking into account my beauty according to the world ahead of the beauty seen in me and given to me by Christ. I’m just as guilty of being blind to a reality that isn’t dictated by miniscule elements.

But we’re wrong. We’re all wrong. We’re wrong in our reliance on earthly things to make unnecessary “improvements” on what was already deemed lovable in the heart of Christ.

Because you are beautiful. Not because of a product or a number or an article of clothing. You’re just beautiful. You. Right now. As you are. Make up or no makeup. You’re perfect. And you’re perfect because you’re you. Because you were conceived in the mind of the Lord. And you were accepted into His heart as an individual with value and worth. You are always beautiful.

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’” – 1 Samuel 16:7

P.S. You are enough.

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