What do you see when you look in the mirror? If you had to describe yourself, what would you say? Would you begin with the negative? Would you start with your inner qualities first, or begin with the outward appearance? When you look at yourself, is your inward appearance reflected in the mirror? Do you think your friends and loved ones would have a similar description of you? To what do you attribute your observations?
Let me first start by explaining what inspired this particular post. I have a very beautiful friend. She has the most beautiful smile. Her eyes sparkle when she speaks. The first time I ever met her, (this never happens), she said hello and I instantly knew we would become great friends and we have. She is intelligent, giving, thoughtful, caring and so much more. Yesterday however, I learned that she doesn’t see herself the way I see her. She sees her inner qualities clearly, but her outer beauty she does not. Is she a ‘perfect 10’? No. Is anyone? My heart broke for her when she tearfully confessed her lack of confidence in this area.
I tried to be a friend to her and say the right thing and bolster her confidence. I don’t think I helped much. Hours later I found myself thinking about our conversation and feeling like a hypocrite.
I struggle with this topic. I struggle with my outward appearance, because I don’t think it resembles who I am inside. Much of what I ‘believe’ is based on what I was told or taught – negative. When I look into a mirror, (and believe me I avoid them), I see everything that’s wrong and I wonder, if I had never seen my own reflection and I met someone else who looked exactly like me would I find them attractive?
Don’t get me wrong, the point I’m trying to make isn’t that I long to be beautiful. I don’t place an immense amount of importance on outward looks. But if we are made in God’s likeness, if we are filled with Christ on the inside, why do most people still the see ‘ugly’ in their reflections? Does the enemy play tricks on our eyes? Wouldn’t you just, for one day, or even for one hour, like to see what you look like in Christ’s eyes? I think I could get by on that vision for the rest of my life, don’t you?
People rarely need any encouragement about their inward beauty, do they? While I’m completely aware that we should not be focusing on outward appearance, let’s face it, it does have some importance in our lives. Our style of dress matters to us. Hey, there are some styles you’d never see me in, did anyone say ‘spandex’!? Everyone wants to feel attractive to some degree. Everyone wants to believe it when someone compliments them. It’s not as much that there’s a desire for others to find us attractive. I think the point is that most of us would like the inside to match the outside, at least on some recognizable level.
What do you see when you look in the mirror?
