The Beautiful Difference

I think we have all heard the phrase, you are your own best friend, but I never really learned the true meaning of that until recently. We have friends and family that we like to spend time with, but we are never with them 24/7, 365 days of the year, we will always be with ourselves, every second and every moment. It wasn’t until recently that God showed me how life changing a good relationship with myself could be. God loves you and wants you to have peace with yourself, and be encouraging and kind to yourself, He wants us to love the person He made us to be. That is easier said than done, and He knows that but it is up to us to work on that relationship.

I personally never thought about my own relationship, and looking back if I ever did reflect on myself, sometimes it was me critiquing my looks, or my behavior, or my thought, not always but more than there should have been. Everyone goes through this phase of being unsure of who you are, and questioning, but for me is was because I didn’t trust in God, that He made me the way I am for reasons that I will discover down the road, when I put my whole heart in His hands. I think a universal example of this was body image, everyone girl and guy struggles with this and it is so hard not to with the world we live in today, I thought if I had toned arms, and abs and long straight hair, I would be more accepted than I was, and then something happened, God opened my eyes and I realized two things. My body was not made to be looked at as a thing of perfection, my arms are meant for embracing others, my legs are meant for running and jumping and traveling the world God made, my very curly hair is meant to make me who I am. And it wasn’t all physical, I am very shy when I meet people, and around people I don’t know, and I used to think that that made me boring, but God showed me that, that isn’t a flaw. The other thing I realized is that, all that critiquing and trying to change myself, was for other people, it wasn’t for me, it wasn’t in the spirit of God, it was because I cared more about what other people thought. And that is okay. It happens, I am not perfect, God knows that, it is the fact that He helped me realize it and that I am changing my ways, that is what matters most.

Ever since that happened, I have seen myself in new ways, I am learning new things about myself everyday, and most importantly I try everyday to find peace with who I am. If you are reading this and have ever felt similar to what I felt, know that you are who you are because God gave you a purpose, and everything you may see as a weakness or a flaw, is what makes you beautiful, and different. Somedays are easier than others to love yourself and be at peace, but it is always a choice we can make. It gets hard because of jealousy, and doubt, and comparison to others but, if that starts to happen, tell yourself that God made you to have your set of qualities and God made the person next to you with their set of qualities, so that you can maybe learn from them or inspire each other. Instead of wishing that we were like someone else for a certain reason, tell that person that you admire that quality in them. There is a difference between wanting to be like someone and being inspired by someone. God made us different so that we could learn from one another, exist together in a place where we realize we that we all have different qualities and be inspired and humbled by that fact.

So. Look in the mirror, see yourself for how beautiful you are and go from there.