Body Image

There’s a story about a beautiful lady in China who was divorced by her husband when she gave birth to an ‘ugly’ baby. He did not know that she had undergone plastic surgery to become ‘beautiful’ and was shocked when their baby was born ugly…

Such pain; pain in denying the given image, pain in changing the image, pain in keeping the image.

I could go into blaming society, Hollywood, media, low self-esteem, poor parenting skills and everything else… The self-image imputed, imposed and received is not the image of God. I cannot dismiss the impact of the mismatched image; our genuine image according to God the grand weaver and the destructive image maintained. I think there is a pull towards our destiny, an unsettled pain when we are not in line. A pain so great, so numbing that it moves people to self-mutilate.

Once, I caught a glimpse of my own reflection in the shop windows at a mall and realised with surprise that I looked beautiful. That revelation of my beauty was so precious a gift. I felt so loved and cared for by my maker. This gift also challenged me. Is someone less endowed with physical beauty or intellect or any of the myriads of other gifts I have, less loved?

A resounding, no.

He and she are individually, uniquely, beautifully weaved three-dimensional pieces of creation, which are fearfully and wonderfully made, perfectly fitting in His grand purpose.

Words fail the expression of how you and I are the purpose, yet we are part of the purpose. This idea so instrumental to understanding that as an individual we are all so perfect as we are yet we grow. Perfectly fitting multi-material, multi-shaped transforming pegs in the multi-material, multi-shaped, transforming (in every sense of the word) purpose-holes.

And as I stop trying to change who I am and celebrate who I am, I am allowing God to change who I am to become who He has destined me to be.