By Kristen Entwistle
When I look in the mirror, I see a tired, worn girl who is overextended, overworked, and often lonely. I see the bags under my eyes and the lines on my forehead, the unwanted pounds and pale complexion of a girl who feels twice her years. A girl who struggles with questions of worth and usefulness and if anyone would miss me if I was gone tomorrow. I don’t see myself as beautiful when I look in the mirror. I see the flaws and the cracks and the bad things. I’ve forgotten that I am beautiful in the eyes of my Savior, my God. That I am loved beyond measure, saved by grace through faith.
There was a man, once, who reminded me that I am beautiful. He wasn’t a boyfriend or my father. I don’t even know his name. You see, I was walking through Aldi, our cheap generic grocery store one Sunday after church. I stopped by the toilet paper to check my list before I continued down the aisle. A man brushed past me on his way through, and I apologized for being in his way. “I think you forgot something,” he said as he passed. I looked over my shoulder to see if I had dropped something, looked down at my skirt to make sure it was still intact. I checked my purse to make sure I still had my phone and my wallet. I couldn’t find anything that I was missing. I shrugged my shoulders and looked down at my list again, seeing what else I needed to pick up before I could check out and head home. I started to walk forward as the same man was coming back up the aisle. I smiled politely as he passed and he leaned toward me as he passed. “You forgot that you’re beautiful.” I was dumbstruck for a moment. Totally baffled. It took me a moment, but I turned around to see if perhaps I knew the man, could place him. And he was gone.
You forgot that you’re beautiful, he told me. Not, “You are beautiful.” He said, “You forgot that you’re beautiful.”
You are beautiful. You may not see it. You may not see beautiful when you look in the mirror after you roll out of bed, or even after you put on makeup. But God made you beautiful, and that’s not going to change. One of a kind. Loved more than you will ever know.
Don’t forget it. Remind yourself that God made you beautiful, and nothing can take that away. Not a failed marriage. A past abortion. A troubled home life. A terminal cancer diagnosis. Nothing can take away the fact that God made you beautiful. Nothing.
You may have forgotten that God made you beautiful. You may not see it in the mirror, even now. But you are beautiful. Priceless. Forgiven. Loved.
You are beautiful. Don’t forget it.
The simplest truths are the ones we most easily forget. Thank you for the reminder this morning!
What a beautiful story and great reminder that we are beautiful. If I died today, my daughter would have almost no pictures of me because I never feel beautiful. She won’t look at the pictures of me and think how fat I was, she will look and remember how it felt to be together. She will remember how I loved her, and how she loved me. I need to be more mindful that beauty is less about how I look than how I live.
Through other’s eyes we often see what we are missing. Your daughter is blessed to have you as her beautiful mother!
this is wonderful! so many forget that they/we are beautiful! I love people that take just a second out of their day to spread this kind of JOY!! #makesmesmile
@spreadingJOY
It’s amazing how God sees us as BEAUTIFUL! So refreshing! Wish we had His same eyes!
We look different to others than to ourselves. God, especially, knows how beautiful we are for He sees us through the eyes of creator and lover. Such a beautiful reminder to you — and through you to us.
oh i needed that reminder 😀
What a day-maker! I’ll bet you’ll never forget your encounter with that man.
Ahhh. What a glorious reminder. We often get caught up into what the world considers beautiful and forget about beauty through the eyes of God.
So needed to read that! Thank you!
We all need to be reminded of this. Thank you for sharing.
What a great reminder of the truth. Our Creator made us all a beautiful reflection of Him so that we could show others Him in all that we are and do.
Thanks for reminding me of this Truth also.
Marissa
Thank you for the reminder! It’s hard to remember this when we are covered with kiddy goup and so so tired 🙂
That was such a kind man. That was a good man whom God could use.
Thank you so much for this <3 I really needed it 🙂