In her mind, her body wasn't acceptable for public viewing. She mentioned that she no longer wears shorts, but always covers herself with long pants and long dresses.
Episodes like this confuse me. I look at her and see absolutely nothing wrong. In fact, I look at her and realize that in my wildest dreams I will never be as thin or as pretty as she is. I truly have a hard time understanding how someone so beautiful can feel so insecure about how they look.
And yet, I try to be sympathetic. I do understand being uncomfortable with my body. I do understand feeling unacceptable to the world.
It makes me feel sad. It's such a waste. We miss out on so much of life because we stop ourselves from enjoying things because we're afraid of being judged by others for how we'll look doing those things. And of course, by "we" I mean "I". This is the mindset that has governed most of my life!
But mindsets can be changed. Life can be embraced! Beauty can be found in the doing, if not always the being. Maybe this is part of what Jesus meant when He said that He came so that we could have LIFE more ABUNDANTLY. I believe God wants us to engage in the life that He has given us, in whatever capacity is available to us. And that engaging, that act of truly living, is where real beauty resides.
Hugs.
The thing I cannot bring myself to do is dance in public. I have always had the fear that people would look at me and think "poor thing, I wonder if she knows she has no rhythm"! Pam
ReplyDeleteHi Cindy,
ReplyDeleteFunny this topic is on your mind, because just yesterday I listened to a sermon on the danger of comparison. He talked about how destructive it is in our lives. He said that we live in The Land of Er. We want to be pretty-er, tall-er, thinn-er, etc. He also talked about the reflection we see when we look in the mirror. Do we see our parents' expectations that we could never quite live up to? Do we see someone else that we wish we were more like? (bells going off on that one for me!). Or do we see who God created us to be--a unique, special person who was not intended to be like anyone else? I think you're right about this being part of what Jesus meant. He wants us to have abundant life! Spending it thinking we are not "er" enough is not abundant life!
(Note to Pam: I know just what you mean, and I married someone who loves to drag me out on the dance floor! But I've tried to give up on the fact that I'm not .... dancey-er!)
Love you,
Your sister