One size fits all? Ya right!
Dreaded words to hear when you, realistically, don’t fit
that “one-size-fits-all” mold.
Interestingly, the more open I am about my “image issues”,
to more I realize that we are all the same. My “flawless” friends, the ones
that some days I think I would give anything to be, are often just as insecure
about their bodies as I am.
I guess it’s part of being a woman. (Maybe a man too, I
really don’t know since I’m not one.) Wishing for straighter hair, wavier hair,
longer legs, slimmer hands, fuller lips, higher forehead, smaller feet…I could
go on forever!! Never fully satisfied, never fully accepting what we've got.
For my part, yes, a health change is necessary (and
something that I've been convicted about lately), but that’s not my point here.
My point is that I tend to think that I’m the only one.
The only one too big for the one size fits all sweater. The only one who
worries that my husband won’t be proud to be with me. The only one who feels
ashamed to walk through the mall. Who walks with her head down so that she
can’t see the judgement on people’s faces. Who hasn't been to a pool in years
because it is so terrifying.
The only one who complains about her grey hair in front
of her daughters. Who compares herself to her friends and falls short. Who
wonders if anyone aside from family members would ever find her beautiful.
Maybe you know how I feel. You know how it feels to
always come up short of what you think you should look like. If that’s you, YOU
ARE NOT ALONE!!! (and we should talk some time)
As I've sat moping (I mean pondering, of course) about
this, I've tried to think of things that legitimately are one-size-fits-all.
I thought about love, marriage, family, friendships,
parenting…all of the things in my life, things I have in common with others
around me, but so many of them vary.
And then – hello conviction, again – it dawned on me:
Salvation!
For Christ also
died for sins once for all,
The just for the
unjust,
So that He might
bring us to God,
Having been put to
death in the flesh,
But made alive in
the spirit.
I Peter 3:18
ONCE FOR ALL! One “size”, one action, one grace for all
time….to bring us to God.
What a blessing. To be loved. To be accepted so much that
He – the Just, the pure, the One without fault – would die once for all for me.
No longer do I need to wallow in self-pity, focusing on
the temporal. The transient. The external.
So we do not lose
heart. Though our outward self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed
day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16
My body is destined for decay. It’s wasting away. It’s
perishing. That’s OK. It’s OK not to be a bombshell, not to be a head-turner,
not to be known for my looks. (Although, again, being responsible and healthy
are both important. Don’t get me wrong there!!!)
However, what really matters, what is of greatest worth
and value is that inner self that Christ died “One for all” to redeem.
That is what will remain in that final day. The day when
the length of my hair and my weight on a scale will have zero impact on eternity.
I’m so comforted by that.
I’m beautiful and valuable to Christ. I am loved, sought
after and redeemed.
Be encouraged! You too are beautiful and loved by God!
Now, let’s go about the work of
…looking not to the
things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.
For the things that
are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18
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