Self Worth Comes From Within

"But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." ~1 Peter 3:4

 

Have you ever woken up and had a song stuck in your head for absolutely no reason? That happened to me today, and I haven't been able to shake the feeling that there actually was a reason behind it. The song that was on my mind this morning was "Young & Beautiful" by Lana Del Rey. It caught me by surprise because I really don't listen to her music at all and that is seriously the only song I know by her. It was part of the soundtrack for The Great Gatsby when it was in theaters last year, but I never actually went to see the movie either. In the past few months, the song popped up on my Pandora radio, but I haven't gone out of my way to listen to the song, until today.

You see, the very premise of the song is a woman's yearning to know if she will still be loved when she's no longer young and beautiful. Let that sink in for a minute. Some of you might brush the idea off, but this is a very real reality for many women. Satan has so influenced culture and perception and fooled women into truly believing that their worth is completely wrapped up in their beauty. Satan infuses this concept into every bit of media that constantly bombards women of all ages today. Billboards, commercials, movies, music, Instagram, you name it, the main idea conveyed is that you are only accepted if you have a certain body type and have the perfect facial features. If that begins to fade, we're told that it's almost our duty to make sure that we either have surgery, inject collagen or botox, paint on a pretty face, or starve ourselves in order to continue to be accepted. My heart breaks for any and all women that have fallen for this popular lie. I pity them and the effort they feel they must put into looking beautiful and presentable because this idea comes straight from the pit of hell. It's meant to make women insecure so that they doubt their worth. If they feel unworthy, they'll feel unloved, which could hinder their ability to accept Jesus' unconditional. This sense of unworthiness will undermine their very eternal salvation.

What we as Christian women must do is turn to Scripture. Within the Bible, Peter writes that our beauty is no external, but comes from within. Our countenance and spirit never change or fades over time, and that is where God tells us to find our worth. When we begin to believe the truth of the Bible, no longer will we feel the need to question whether or not we will be loved when we are no longer young and beautiful. An unchanging internal spirit means that part of us stays the same, and that is the part of us that people should fall in love with. Our acceptance and received love should not be based on our looks, but what's inside our hearts. It's more important to be a loving and compassionate soul than the most externally beautiful person. I hope and pray that you'll recognize that your personality has way more to do with your soul than your looks and that you'll find a way to love yourself, flaws and all. Don't believe the lies within the media. You are beautiful regardless of what anybody tells you about your appearance. And if you feel that a friend might be falling for these lies, encourage her and tell her that she's beautiful. Reinforce her with the Word of God, which is Truth because that's what we all yearn to hear at the end of the day.

Starting Over

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." ~Philippians 3:13

Admittedly, having to start afresh in any part of life is a little scary, difficult, and potentially frustrating. In my life, I'm determined to finally get back into running. It's something I used to enjoy so much, with the occasional love/hate relationship, but typically I loved to compete and would push myself. But ever since running my last marathon back in 2011, I seem to have lost all motivation to put forth any effort in that particular area of my life.
Today I went for a two mile run with Chrissy at a half mile dirt track. It was only the third time I've run since July, which is kind of pathetic. But you know what? Despite some aches in my knee, that thankfully weren't too severe, I enjoyed myself. That could be because I started out the first few strides running like Phoebe from Friends, but I also think it's because I was motivated to make a change in my life. I know that being relatively sedentary is not good for my health. I have the degree to prove that knowledge. Yet mentally, I just have had no desire to run. Like at all. I think what changed, though, was the fact that I've seen former competitors enjoy recent success. One just got a half marathon PR and another was the top female finisher in a duathlon. This made me think that if they can still be enjoying running, then maybe so can I. I just need to go into it with the right mindset. Like Paul wrote in Philippians, I need to look forward. I need to not only strain towards not the goal of Jesus, but new running goals. If I look at my past success, I will give up on the spot. It'll take months, even years to attempt to achieve what I used to back in high school and the beginning of college. What I need to focus on is the here and now. I need to be thankful for the gift of running and that I was able to run two miles continuously for 18:54. I can't think of how I used to be able to run that same distance in 12:20.
This is where not looking back is key. That's actually an essential rule in running, not looking at what's behind you. I remember back in the 8th grade I was in 3rd place and 400 yards from the finish line in a cross country invitational. I kept pushing up the last little incline, determined to improve my position. About fifteen yards from the finish line I was able to move into second place and receive a silver medal for my efforts. The interesting realization came later, once I analyzed a picture that my dad had taken. It shows me at that 400 yard mark from the finish. In the foreground was the leader, but behind her, you could distinctly see the girl who was in second place. What caught my eye was the position of her head. I was looking at the back of her head, rather than her face. Instead of focusing on the finish line, she was concerned with what was behind her, which just so happened to be me. By losing focus and looking back, I believe that's how I gained my edge and was able to pass her before the finish line.
Not only can this concept be applied to running, it can be applied to life in general. We need to not look at our past mistakes constantly or we will never truly appreciate Jesus and the grace of God. It's important to pay attention to the here and now once we've been redeemed by our Savior. Once we are born again, we are given that chance to start over fresh. Sanctification is a process and it's important to know how far we've come, but if we focus on our screw-ups, we'll never appreciate the full blessing of the forgiveness of sins by Jesus dying on the Cross. We must strive toward the perfecter of our faith and have Jesus be our ultimate guide and goal in life in order to finish well.
So in life and in running, appreciate the opportunity to start over again. Remember that you can overcome obstacles if you look ahead towards the finish line, whether it be a race or life. Once you start fresh, there should be no turning back!