Today marks half way through November but more importantly, Natural November. I do confess that the first week of this quest to challenge social standards of beauty; I found to be exceedingly more difficult then I had expected. To jump inside the mind of a young woman is to fall into a whirlwind of insecurity and a tangled nest of over thinking. To take make up off a young woman is the equivalent of stripping off her clothes and expecting her to be comfortable in public. I've never felt so exposed. Baring my imperfections for all to scrutinize.
What will people think of me?
I believe fear of man is the core of my obsession with cosmetics. Girls have fooled themselves into thinking that make up manufactures beauty and therefore makes them more desirable. Its the fear of man that dictates the amount of cover up I put on, or mascara, or blah blah blah. Its the thought that I will be judged or even worse, overlooked. Isn't that the core of it? That my natural skin and my boring eyes will not impress and I will be discounted?
Who dictates what beauty is?
The history of beauty is a journey of society's desperate attempt to define such a mystifying word. The dictionary defines it as: the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.). According to this definition beauty arises from sensory perceptions which would suggest that beauty truly lies in the beholder. It is subjective to one's personal opinion of what is beautiful.
No one can give guidelines for beauty.
The Truth
For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You.
When I was made in the secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
Psalms 139:13-16
If this is how God made me and formed me to be then why must I feel the need to cover it? God's definition of beauty is vastly different then the social norm we are forced into. What is beauty? God's creation is beautiful. We are made in the image of God, who's radiance surpasses anything we can imagine. My new revelation?
I am beautiful, my Daddy in heaven tells me so. Now if only society could grab hold of this conclusion.
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