When we least expect it our ugly, inner thoughts can inadvertently spill out of our mouths.
My daughter and I were sharing a quick lunch at the mall. We’d been shopping six hours without stopping for nourishment and our crashing blood-sugar levels demanded that we eat. That’s when I uttered these eye-opening words to my daughter.
“I hate the way I look,” I blurted, “I should never be allowed to eat another bite!”
My daughter’s mouth dropped, “Mom, I can’t believe you said that about yourself.”
Unfortunately, that’s how I felt. Minutes before we’d grabbed our Chinese food and sat down in the food court, I’d caught a glimpse of my reflection in a store window. What I saw repulsed me. My boobs (excuse my graphic description) drooped to my waist, my thighs jiggled, my jowls flopped, and my double-chins hung from my face like extra smiley-faces! What a sight I’d become, I thought to myself.
“Mom, you are beautiful,” my daughter reassured me.
I didn’t feel beautiful. I hated the way I looked. I knew I had to get a grip on reality and see myself the way God does.
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
What I see won’t do at all.
Help me Lord to change my view.
May I see the way You do.
How quickly I’d forgotten the valuable lesson my youngest daughter had taught me before she passed away at age twenty-seven! She and I had both been obsessed with our stove-pipe legs ... a gift from my mother (thank you very much). As cancer gnawed away at my daughters once-beautiful body, her heavy legs became toothpicks. She declared to me and God that she would never again complain about her body size or shape if only she could be healthy again. Yes, I heartily agreed. Our dissatisfaction with our body’s shape was a sin. We asked the Lord to forgive us and help us to walk confidently no matter what our shape or size because our hearts were the primary concern to Him. We get glorious, perfect bodies when this short life is over and we live eternally with the One who made us. I don’t want to admit that I spent my precious, God-given time on this earth worrying about my body shape! I am ashamed of myself. My body shape is not who I am.
