Hello Beauty…
I don’t think we’ve ever really met.
You seem to call to me from covers of magazines, corners of the earth as the sun slips down, in the silence of the morning when I look into the mirror.
I’m drawn to you, always have been.
What little girl isn’t?
And yet I fear you too.
Because I don’t feel good enough, entitled to what you have.
Oh, others are…the cheerleaders and prom queen, Mary and Martha (Stewart).
But me?
It’s taken three decades to start discovering the truth.
I’ve been talking to Him about our relationship lately.
And I realized, dear Beauty…
We’re not enemies, we’re sisters.
We have the same Father.
He created us both.
Offered us as gifts to the world.
We both know what it’s like to be misunderstood, overlooked, broken.
We’re really more alike than different.
I’m so sorry for believing things about you that weren’t true, ignoring you because I was afraid.
Come here, sweet Beauty, let me see you for the first time the way I was meant to all along.
Oh, what a surprise for my soul!
I never knew…
The more I truly look at you, the more I see Him!
Holley Gerth, co-founder of (in)courage and author of Rain on Me: Devotions of Hope and Encouragement blogs at Heart to Heart with Holley. She lives with her husband of ten years in Arkansas and has just finished up her Master’s degree in counselling. I’ve had the chance to spend some time with over the past year even though she lives far off. She is dear to me and I’m honored to call her friend.
This is great! All women will benefit from this, but I see this being presented at an event for teens!
smooches,
Larie
Loving all of God’s children is always a challenge. We’re not all the same–all have different gifts–different personalities. Learning to see with the Father’s eyes is hard for us. One talent I feel He gave me is to listen and that way I can sometimes ‘see’ people better. I’m starting to just listen first and loving even if I don’t quite ‘like’ what I see/hear. Sometimes people appear differently on the outside than what is actually going on inside. Only God truly knows the heart. I’m trying not to guess that I do. We live in a complex, competitive world. People wear all kinds of masks. A loving spirit often is the balm that everyone can use. God make me patient and loving.
Thank you, Holley!
Jesus is beautiful…and so are you!
I love how you capture the desire for and intimidation many feel towards Beauty; how you addressed this idea as a person. Thanks for sharing your (beautiful) thoughts!
I have always had a hard time embracing beauty and its role here. It is one of those things that society has royally messed up. There was a portion of John and Stasi Eldredge’s Captivating that made me begin to see it differently…the way God intended it. I need to go back and look that one up.
Holley – you embody all the best kinds of beauty to me.
~Lisa-Jo
Holley, I wished I would’ve read stuff like this when I was younger (in my 40′s now). Then I wished I could’ve embraced it! But it’s never too late, eh? I’m embracing now. Thanks for showing how we feel inside where nobody else sees but us and Him.
Dear Holley,
First, thank you for sharing a topic that all of us relate to, namely, what is beauty. Beauty to me is Jesus, His Pure Love and the Confidence He gives us. To Lindsey, thank you for inspiring me to review the ‘Captivating’ series again. I believe I learn more from it now that my beliefs are stronger. I love that we all learn from one another through Holley. Have a “beautiful” week ladies. Linda King
Beauty has always been my downfall because I hid behind the real heart of me. Looking good is nice, I appreciate God’s making me, but I have to keep a humble heart and not spend more time looking good than that of have a God’s looking good heart. I think people tend not to see beyond the looks of someone, making it a very bias world. The Lord has shown me lately that looks don’t mean a thing when it comes to integrity. I want my heart now to be like that of Jesus, humble in spirit, lowly and quiet, listening to Him when He has something to tell me, and listening to others. God Bless
I absolutely love this! I think I will have to read it to my youth group(since the group is mostly girls!) Thank you so much!
I loved this! Thank you.
Holley,I thank God for your life and for the beautiful insights God gives you to share with others to encourage them to walk in love and freedom.Alot of what we face deals with our perspective of ourselves and others. We all want to be chosen and loved.God sees us all as special…but for me I think the thing is do I believe that I am loved and lovable.He says we are..It is wonderful how God uses others to speak truth into our lives. Our daughter in law is a beautiful girl
but she is like all of us and has moments of insecurity .)Wanting her to feel secure in our relationship I asked her,”Do you know how much I love you.”She replied it was quite evident and mentioned some incidents and then she said,”Now the real questions Mum is do you believe I love you because I do.”It was as if God was asking me that question.I agree with Tammy that we need to embrace that truth and Holley I feel your blog does that,I find that it is very affirming of women and our relationship with God and each other.He says we are a royal diadems in His hands.
Amen Becky.
Very Beauty-fully written!
Thanks, Holley and Sarah!
I have always been comfortable with myself on the outside. It is amazing to me how much power the advertising world has on our young people. I have felt like I am in a battle with it when it comes to my teenage daughter. She is beautiful and yet is insecure with her outside appearance. I have to constantly keep up with what is advertised as beautiful and assure my daughter that she is beautiful inside and out no matter what the magazines and T.V. says. It is truly disheartening.
Cindy
How poetic and pure. I love the honesty.
I am one of those who never believed I could call myself ‘Beautiful’. Thank you Holley for teaching this older woman (46) it is never too late to see the beauty God placed inside my little girl heart. Blessings to all!
Oh, Holley, you captured the sweet essence of true beauty… because of Jesus, we are all worthy. Love it.
“the more i truly look at you, the more i see Him.” wow. i need to get over my fear of truly looking at beauty. because i’ve lived my entire life scared to death to.
the judgmentally religious home i grew up in emphasized that beauty is sinful. my marriage (and eventual divorce) made me believe that i could never be beautiful. and all of that combined has left me locked in the death-grip of a fear of beauty.
i need Him to set me free from that.
Isn’t it sad how we let someone else – or some situation – define beauty for us?
I keep doing that too.
And I have four beautiful daughters that I don’t want to “mess up” because of my own fears and disillusionment.
It’s the age old question . . . how can I teach what I don’t always believe?
I love the community on this little blog here!
i don’t want to mess mine up too.
And YES i love this little community too. =)
Thank you, Holley, for such a truthful and intimate look at what’s going on inside each of us. I love how He always gives you what we need to hear! And how you are so faithful and beautiful to find a way to relay that to us in a way we can understand and relate to.
And thank you, beautiful Sarah, for hosting Holley here. I’m so excited to know about you now too!
beautiful. i want to come closer to my own beauty, to see Him..in me.
Thank you Holley for letting us read you.
I LOVE the part when you say that “we’re not enemies, we’re sisters.”
I feel like that is where I want to be, but struggle daily to get there.
Thanks, friend. =)
I also love the part of “we’re not enemies, we’re sisters”. I’d never thought of it that way. Thank you
So, so good. Now, I’m starting over at the top and reading that all over again.
Psalm 45:11 ….
Thank you for this message today. There are so many of us who grew up feeling not pretty. God gives an inner beauty that the world can not take away. He has given us a mission to reach out to others so that they can feel His beauty within their lives.
Linda
Thank you Sarah, glad to visit here… may God continue to bless you and your family.
Holley, I made the “Ugly Truffles” and they were beautifully delicious …so are the words above. Thank you for sharing our Father’s wisdom. I too wish I would have believed this earlier in my life, but so thankful for them now!
Thank you for all of your lovely words! I’m humbled and honored to be here. Appreciate you, dear Sarah, and the way you put your soul and words into making this a place our hearts feel at home. XOXO
That was really special – thank you!
I am going to print it out for the young girls in our confirmation class!
love this!
thanks! this speaks to my heart today…
I am that little girl, that teenager, that young woman, wife, mother and now grandmother who has always felt as if I didn’t measure up. Never able to see beauty in myself and wondering how God could love me as much as He says He does. I’m on my journey now, working hard and struggling daily to see myself the way my Father sees me.
Lovely!
A freshly penned truth:
Authentic Beauty, everlasting beauty: Jesus Christ.
Thanks, Holley!
PS Sarah, I like your blog design.
I loved the reminder here of what it really is. I see beauty in so many things… always have. It’s the beauty in the mirror Sarah wrote of last week that always catches me up. And then I forget to look everywhere else.
Oh Holley, this is beautiful! I can’t even type because of the tears! You are so beautiful, inside and out.
Yours in Christ
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Oh my. I need to read that again. And again…and…with a bigger box of tissue beside me as I really meditate on this. I need to hear this. I need to read this. I need to ponder, digest, accept and embrace this. Thank you so much for sharing this (and your talents).
~traci