Photo source: I can’t remember, so if you want to find the picture just Google “I am beautiful” and search through the images.
Adolescence is a really tough time in a kid’s life. Maybe even the toughest time (though I can’t say from experience because I’ve never been past it.)
As a teen, I want to know lots of things, like , “Do I have a likable personality?” and “What attracts guys to girls?” and “How can I be more extroverted?”
But the biggest thing I want to know is: “Am I beautiful?”
I’ve always considered myself a beautiful person (inside and out.) This is not arrogance; this is knowing my own worth. There are a few features I like in particular, like my hands, my smile, and my eyes. But in adolescence, you need reassurance from someone outside yourself.
I thought of going to my parents, but I knew that wouldn’t work. First of all, they’re my parents; they’re biased. Second of all, I knew exactly what their answer would be: “Of course you are, Honey… Why do you feel like you need to ask that?” They’ve always told me I’m beautiful. But I didn’t want biased reassurance; I wanted the truth.
So, I turned to Google. (Notice the lack of logic in my reasoning: I turned to the Internet for the truth.) I probably took 20 personality and beauty tests. And you know what? Every single one told me I was beautiful (with one exception, which told me that my results were 100% beautiful, 100% cute, and 100% ugly. Needless to say, that test didn’t carry much weight in my search.)
So my thoughts were confirmed. I was scientifically beautiful. But after I took all those tests, I wondered what I would have thought if they had said I was ugly. Would I have been depressed? Would I have believed them, those quizzes written by people who have never met me or even seen me?
I realized then that, in trying to determine whether or not I was beautiful, I had looked to the wrong person for answers.
I should have looked to God.
Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image…” (NKJV) Not physically, because God is not physical, but spiritually. The trait we have that makes us different from animals is our eternal soul, as well as our ability to choose between right and wrong and our ability to pull emotions from ourselves and translate them into our own creations (whether dances, books, paintings, or a sport.)
And what’s inside is what matters far, far more. Our inner person is what God loves: “For God looks at the heart.”
There was a time when this wouldn’t have comforted me. I would have thought, “But I want to know if I’m beautiful on the outside!” But now, it is enough. It is enough, because anyone worth their salt (male and female, friend or boyfriend) tries to look on the inward person, and not just on the outward appearrance. And if someone shuns me or doesn’t want to be my friend because they don’t like the way I look, they would probably be an awful friend.
Thank you today, God, for the comfort I find in the fact that You love me for my inward person, and not my outward person.
Blissful Little Wonders 
