Is It Okay To Feel Beautiful?

This week at work I told a coworker that she looked cute and she misheard me, she stopped and asked me to repeat myself. When I did, she said oh, for a moment I thought you were saying that about yourself. And at the time I laughed and shook my head and carried on. But it got me thinking. Why not? Why would that be the type of thing that, if said, you would stop and say, sorry I must have heard you wrong.

I do struggle with body image, although I'm working on it. But I wondered, if I was able to look at myself and be happy, in love with, and - yes - proud of what I saw, would that be acceptable?

It seems to me that in this society, we are supposed to feel badly about how we look. We are bombarded daily with ads and images that tell us again and again that we are not beautiful enough. Yet, friends and family tell us daily that we are. It seems, though, that should we start to believe them, to fall in love with our own quirks and shape and style, then we will have become egotisical and conceited. It's a thin line; loving yourself vs. being full of yourself; respecting your body vs. idolizing it; being humble vs. disliking yourself. And I think often, we don't know how to do one and not the other, or we do, but it can get mistaken for what it is not. And I wonder, how we will learn?

S

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight." 1 Peter 3:3-4