the ugly-beautiful

from long before the era of She-ra, the princess of power, i wanted to be beautiful. long flowing waves of blonde hair with sculpted cheek bones. at the young age of 9, i already knew that beauty was a cultural value.

just last night we enjoyed dinner at a local pizza place. the twinks were admiring a nearby video game when something caught my eye....two scantily clad, well-endowed cartoon characters.

really?

a children's video game in a family-friendly restaurant... communicating value to my two year old children.

and yet do i not still struggle, 23 years later, with this idea of beauty... wishing my smile lines were less noticeable, my eyes more symmetrical, daily longing for my pre-mommy figure. truth be told, i was never all that satisfied with that one either.

have i not already found myself imposing such values on my dear daughter? perfectly coordinated clothing with well placed bows.

now i am not suggesting these things are harmful. they are, in fact, neutral. but what is my heart in the matter? am i protecting my daughter, pointing her to True Beauty or handing down to her a neatly packaged box of lies?

God give me the grace & wisdom to point her eyes upward...even while inserting colorful bows!



i am so thankful for Dove's campaign for real beauty & videos such as this one. perhaps, the next generation will better understand how deeply deceived we are as a society.

Love took the ugly, put mud on its eyes, and worked it slowly into blazing beauty.

The French have a phrase for it: d’un beau affreux; in German, hubsch-hasslich. The ugly-beautiful. That which is perceived as ugly reconfigures as beautiful. The impressionist painter, Paul Gauguin, encapsulated it as, “Le laid peut-etre beau…” The ugly can be beautiful.

please take the time to read this entry on the the ugly-beautiful. it will challenge your quest for beauty & move you to see that the ugly can be made beautiful.

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
isaiah 53:2-5

read more about the ugly-beautiful by clicking here