How Beautiful You Are

Today as I was leaving the store I heard a mother tell her daughter, who was working on hiding her face, one of those phrases I think we all heard as we were growing up.

One day you will realize how beautiful you are.

I sneaked a glance at the young woman. She was indeed, a pretty girl just starting her journey toward womanhood. It is something I hope that I have told my children enough. I fear, like most parents, I have spent far too much time pointing out their faults and not enough time telling them how beautiful they are. And I am not just talking about the girls, and I am not just talking about physical beauty. Although (and yes, being their father I realize I am biased) I think all my children are pretty darn beautiful.

What popped into my head next was a little bit of a surprise to me. It was not the lovely images of my children as I had kind of expected, but a question. A lot of us tell our children this, but how many of us as adults believe it about ourselves? How often are we critical of ourselves beyond what is necessary. How many times do we look in the mirror, both the actual mirror and the metaphorical one and instead of being happy with what we see look away in shame or anger.

I am not suggesting that we should stare Narcissus like into the mirror of who we are but maybe, we should take a little more time remembering that we all have worth. One of the most disturbing things that you can see, and there are a lot of disturbing things, is someone who obviously sees no value in themselves. They hide themselves, they shy away from people and contact, and in the most extreme cases they decide to do something drastic about it, and attempt suicide.

It is important to remember that we all have worth. We all are important. Even if you don’t feel it yourself, there are people around you who find you worthy. Remember that we have all had those low points in our life where we feel worthless, unwanted, even ugly to the point where we feel that maybe the world would be better without us. But the truth is that is never the case. You, (everyone of you) has worth. You are valued by someone, usually many someones. And You are beautiful to me. Says the Lord.

So I urge you, everyone of you, to reach out to someone today. Maybe someone you have not talked to in a while. Maybe someone you just see who looks down. Let them know you care some how. Give them a call. Say hello. Smile. And if you are one of those people who are doubting yourself worth. Don’t be afraid to ask someone for help. Heck if you can’t find anyone close to you, call me and I will tell you, you are beautiful.