Yesterday i had the amazing privilege to spend the afternoon with some of my favorite people in the entire world...the teen/pre-teen girls from my church. We had a lesson/discussion about self-esteem, and compared God's view of beauty to the world's. We talked about how society's view of a beautiful woman is often super tall, blonde, fit (and photoshopped)...which makes us feel like we don't measure up. We had a lot of great discussion about how God feels when we look in the mirror and pick ourselves apart (one of the girls compared it to making a piece of art and then having the piece of art yell at you and tell you it hates itself...interesting take haha). We concluded by reading scriptures about how God cares about our 'inner self' SO much more than what we look like on the outside, and what it means to have genuine inner beauty.
The most impacting part of the afternoon, though, was an activity we did to end the lesson where each girl said something they think is beautiful about the person to the right of them. I was pleasantly surprised and EXTREMELY encouraged to see how much of an impact a kind word had on each one of them. I got a little bit emotional at how much each of them lit up when they were told that they are beautiful, or that something about them inspires someone else. I feel like it's not very often that we actually let people know what we appreciate about them or how they impact us in a positive way. My challenge for myself and everyone else this week is to let people know what stands out, what makes them beautiful to you...because if you don't say it, who will?
3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
-1 Peter 3:3-4
7 You are altogether beautiful, my darling;
there is no flaw in you.
-Song of Songs 4:7
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