I would like to share something that I was thinking about today. I think it is an inspiring topic.
I'm currently listening to "Just the way you are" by Bruno Mars. It's a beautiful song with beautiful words. One line is very lovely indeed: 'If perfect's what you're searching for then just stay the same." The man in the song loves the woman so much that he doesn't see a single flaw in her, even though she probably sees plenty in herself!
Being a woman brings with it very common plaguing fears over, sadly, what we perceive to be our inadequacies. We go through rituals of comparing ourselves to others, fretting over the size of our hips, the spots on our face, the shade of our teeth- the list is endless. And when we feel we have 'worked out' one inadequacy, it won't be long before we're battling with another.
It isn't just in appearance. We worry about out personalities, about being too shy or too loud, or too overbearing, or too weak, or too serious, or too sad; again, the list is endless.
When it comes to being a Christian, I know that I can often do the same thing with my spiritual life. I think about all the mistakes I've made that week or that day, and I compare myself with this person who prays for an hour every morning when I can barely manage more than fifteen minutes at a time, or with somebody else who also seems to be 'doing much more for God' than me, and I wonder how on earth I'll get any better.
Today I had a revelation which, if I endeavour to put into practice as much as possible, I'm sure will sort out my attitudes so that suddenly all these 'plaguing fears' will be put to rest!
I was standing in the queue to buy a sandwhich for my lunch. Suddenly the thought crossed my mind, 'you know, God sees you as perfect.' The Bruno Mars song popped into my head, and particularly that line, 'If perfect's what you're searching for then just stay the same.' I had just been churning over many less-than-happy thoughts about my appearance and inadequacies. I thought, 'nice thought!', but promptly forgot about it as I thought it would take far too much of an effort of faith to thoroughly believe it with all my heart- not just in my head.
Then when I got into the shop, you'll never guess what song was playing! That's right, Bruno Mars, "Just the way you are"! Call me a romantic, call me far-fetched, call me whatever you like!, but I believe that was God speaking to me. He sees me as a perfect, just because I have faith in him.
To me, that song represents how God feels about us. He adores us, and sees no imperfection in us, even though we're fundamentally sinners, and will be untill we die! He just loves us, and that's it.
It's time we- and I- started living in the light of this, and stopped living in the lies which makes us feel so bad about ourselves.
Jesus died for us, so let's not live like we're worthless! We're unique, beautiful, lovely and LOVED. Just the way we are.
