What's the big deal about beauty?
I think that's a question best answered by taking a walk.
Imagine we are on a walk together. We come to a neighborhood that is really beautiful. The houses are big and well taken care of. The yards are mowed. The sidewalks are straight.
We come to a house on the corner lot. It's obviously somebody's pride and joy. It is well decorated. There are window boxes full of flowers in bloom. There is a wreath on the door. We turn and look at the house together, and then we each pick up a rock. Are you likely to throw your rock through the window of this beautiful home in this beautiful neighborhood? Probably not. Me neither.
Now let's stroll down a different street in a very different neighborhood. The sidewalks are cracked and covered with graffiti and litter. Many of the houses look abandoned. The lawns are not mown. The flowers have been choked out by weeds. We come to a house on a corner lot. The porch is sagging. The door is hanging on one hinge. Most of the windows are broken out. We each pick up a rock. Do we throw our rocks toward the windows at this house? Probably. Why not? The rest of the house is already broken.
Criminologists have a theory called the Broken Windows Theory. The basic idea is that if a neighborhood is well kept, it is less likely to attract crime—but allow graffiti to go unchecked, trash to litter sidewalks, and houses to become neglected, and crime will come soon after.
What does this have to do with your beauty?
Many of you are run-down neighborhoods. Your ideas about your beauty and value and worth are, well, broken. And as a result, you attract people who think it's okay to throw stones at your heart. Here's how that might look in your life.
You see, when we feel broken, we live in a way that invites others to throw stones at us. We're broken anyway, why does it matter if someone wants to do a little more damage? But a girl who knows who she is according to God's Word and understands that she has value because the God of the universe created her and proclaims His love for her will guard herself against damage. A girl who knows she is beautiful because God has created her fearfully and wonderfully (Psalm 139) guards her beauty as a treasure instead of using it as a weapon to attract the wrong kind of attention.
So it's not just about beauty. It's not just how you feel about yourself. It's about the fact that if you don't choose to believe what God says about you in His Word, it will affect your life—big time.
So let's keep talking about beauty. And let's keep striving to see ourselves as God sees us in order to better guard our hearts against those who would want to do damage. Let's use every conversation about beauty to remind us that we are a well-loved neighborhood. We are beautiful and well cared for and valuable, and when we forget this truth, we invite others to throw stones.
Note: Portions of this blog are taken from Erin's book on true beauty, Graffiti: Learning to See the Art in Ourselves.
I think that's a question best answered by taking a walk.
Imagine we are on a walk together. We come to a neighborhood that is really beautiful. The houses are big and well taken care of. The yards are mowed. The sidewalks are straight.
We come to a house on the corner lot. It's obviously somebody's pride and joy. It is well decorated. There are window boxes full of flowers in bloom. There is a wreath on the door. We turn and look at the house together, and then we each pick up a rock. Are you likely to throw your rock through the window of this beautiful home in this beautiful neighborhood? Probably not. Me neither.
Now let's stroll down a different street in a very different neighborhood. The sidewalks are cracked and covered with graffiti and litter. Many of the houses look abandoned. The lawns are not mown. The flowers have been choked out by weeds. We come to a house on a corner lot. The porch is sagging. The door is hanging on one hinge. Most of the windows are broken out. We each pick up a rock. Do we throw our rocks toward the windows at this house? Probably. Why not? The rest of the house is already broken.
Criminologists have a theory called the Broken Windows Theory. The basic idea is that if a neighborhood is well kept, it is less likely to attract crime—but allow graffiti to go unchecked, trash to litter sidewalks, and houses to become neglected, and crime will come soon after.
What does this have to do with your beauty?
Many of you are run-down neighborhoods. Your ideas about your beauty and value and worth are, well, broken. And as a result, you attract people who think it's okay to throw stones at your heart. Here's how that might look in your life.
- When it comes to boys, your picker-outer is broken. You are drawn to boys who exhibit bad behavior, don't take their faith seriously, and don't treat you like you're the daughter of the King.
- You have toxic friendships. You hang around with mean girls. Sometimes you are a mean girl. There's always drama going on in your group of friends and to you, that feels normal.
- You hurt yourself. You cut. You starve yourself. You exercise compulsively. No matter how you do it, the bottom line is that you're not treating your body like a temple (1 Cor. 6:19).
You see, when we feel broken, we live in a way that invites others to throw stones at us. We're broken anyway, why does it matter if someone wants to do a little more damage? But a girl who knows who she is according to God's Word and understands that she has value because the God of the universe created her and proclaims His love for her will guard herself against damage. A girl who knows she is beautiful because God has created her fearfully and wonderfully (Psalm 139) guards her beauty as a treasure instead of using it as a weapon to attract the wrong kind of attention.
So it's not just about beauty. It's not just how you feel about yourself. It's about the fact that if you don't choose to believe what God says about you in His Word, it will affect your life—big time.
So let's keep talking about beauty. And let's keep striving to see ourselves as God sees us in order to better guard our hearts against those who would want to do damage. Let's use every conversation about beauty to remind us that we are a well-loved neighborhood. We are beautiful and well cared for and valuable, and when we forget this truth, we invite others to throw stones.
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden" (Matt. 5:14).
Note: Portions of this blog are taken from Erin's book on true beauty, Graffiti: Learning to See the Art in Ourselves.
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