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7:46 PM
mateng
We have had several posts recently about being beautiful so I thought it was an appropriate time to reflect with you all about how I came to find true beauty...
When I was a little girl I was a ballerina. I dreamed of one day dancing professionally but when I was in high school puberty didn't treat me so well and in a very short period of time I went from a slender dancer to a chubby teenager. I ended up hurting my knee and used that as my excuse for never having a real dance career. I know it had more to do with my confidence and weight issues. I did not see myself as beautiful. I didn't get much male attention and because I wasn't confident in my looks I failed to see myself as beautiful.
After college I decided I wanted to loose some weight. I not only lost some weight, I lost a lot of weight. I started getting a lot of male attention which encouraged me in my weight loss. (as a side note, I have an amazing Father, so these issues do not always stem from dads) I thought this would make me feel beautiful but honestly it didn't.
Then, two years ago I went on a mission trip to Honduras. It was there that I finally saw what real beauty is. I saw people who the world would not call beautiful but who are the true definition of beautiful. The people I served had a beauty that radiated from the inside out. For the first time in my life I met beauty that felt real and unfading. It was a beauty like what I imagine for the Blessed Mother. After Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette people asked Bernadette to explain what she looked like. She could not describe what she looked like but kept saying that she was the most beautiful lady. Her beauty was not external. It came from the essence of who Mary is. This is the beauty that I was craving. That is the beauty that women are called to bring to this world. It is no wonder I wasn't finding it through all my efforts with my body.
Now I don't worry so much about my weight or if people think I am beautiful physically. Yes I take time to get dressed and not look run down but I know that if I really want to be beautiful I need to make my soul beautiful. My focus is on working towards the beauty that Bernadette saw in our Blessed Mother and the beauty we all saw in Mother Teresa.
So girls, know through the skirt dare that what will make you more beautiful this month is not just the skirts you wear but how you allow your soul to also be a reflection of Mary the true model of femininity. During this month of skirts allow your heart to be open to loving more like her and you will find in yourselves a lasting eternal beauty.
When I was a little girl I was a ballerina. I dreamed of one day dancing professionally but when I was in high school puberty didn't treat me so well and in a very short period of time I went from a slender dancer to a chubby teenager. I ended up hurting my knee and used that as my excuse for never having a real dance career. I know it had more to do with my confidence and weight issues. I did not see myself as beautiful. I didn't get much male attention and because I wasn't confident in my looks I failed to see myself as beautiful.
After college I decided I wanted to loose some weight. I not only lost some weight, I lost a lot of weight. I started getting a lot of male attention which encouraged me in my weight loss. (as a side note, I have an amazing Father, so these issues do not always stem from dads) I thought this would make me feel beautiful but honestly it didn't.
Then, two years ago I went on a mission trip to Honduras. It was there that I finally saw what real beauty is. I saw people who the world would not call beautiful but who are the true definition of beautiful. The people I served had a beauty that radiated from the inside out. For the first time in my life I met beauty that felt real and unfading. It was a beauty like what I imagine for the Blessed Mother. After Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette people asked Bernadette to explain what she looked like. She could not describe what she looked like but kept saying that she was the most beautiful lady. Her beauty was not external. It came from the essence of who Mary is. This is the beauty that I was craving. That is the beauty that women are called to bring to this world. It is no wonder I wasn't finding it through all my efforts with my body.
Now I don't worry so much about my weight or if people think I am beautiful physically. Yes I take time to get dressed and not look run down but I know that if I really want to be beautiful I need to make my soul beautiful. My focus is on working towards the beauty that Bernadette saw in our Blessed Mother and the beauty we all saw in Mother Teresa.
So girls, know through the skirt dare that what will make you more beautiful this month is not just the skirts you wear but how you allow your soul to also be a reflection of Mary the true model of femininity. During this month of skirts allow your heart to be open to loving more like her and you will find in yourselves a lasting eternal beauty.
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