Eyes of Beauty: Combating comparison by focusing on the gift God made you to be

Hi, sweet friend. Come chat with us. It is safe here. Let's be honest with ourselves for a minute. Do you believe you are a gift? That you are loved? Chosen as you are? What comes up when you read those questions? I invite you to chat with God about it. What does it reveal about you? About God? 

These are hard truths to believe. We often push them away or look outside of ourselves for affirmation and love. What would it mean to you to focus on yourself as a gift? To believe you are loved? How would that change your day to day? 

It is so easy for women to look around and compare — why am I not as free as she seems? Why don't my kids listen? I practice gratitude, yet I don’t seem as content as her... Why ? Why? Why? What are we really asking? Why do I not feel like enough? There are a million reasons we might be asking this, yet I want to invite us to flip the script. When we find ourselves comparing and asking why, we should begin, instead, to ask ourselves, how am I seeing myself as loved in this moment? It's not going to make everything cheery, yet this practice will begin to question our thought patterns. This practice of noticing comparison and giving ourselves something else to focus on might reveal truths about ourselves and about God. 

I want to invite us to focus on ourselves as a gift, to focus on the beauty in and around us, to dwell on this truth, and to focus on seeing ourselves as God sees us. Perhaps by putting new disciplines in your life, if you notice places of constant comparison, you can knowledgeably put up boundaries. For me, I’ve put more parameters around social media, especially social media as a mom. I’ve felt the pressure to be the perfect mom, and it has caused me to lose sight of myself and who God has called me to be. So, I've placed some boundaries around it — sometimes it's taking a break, sometimes it's setting a timer, and other times it’s asking myself how I see myself as I log off. 

Let's create a practice to see more beauty for you. Where do you notice the greatest sense of comparison in your life, or the most dissatisfaction? How can you make that a safe place where you can flourish as yourself? What boundary might need to be in place? What questions might you need to ask yourself before and after? Take a moment to write it down, or put it in your notes so you can practice this next time the situation arises. 

You might also choose to journal about how God sees you, using the questions at the beginning of this post and really talking to God about what comes up in you. Perhaps you take time to go on a date with yourself, and spend time with God doing something you love but maybe don’t get to do often. Again, notice what comes up in you as you do this. Sometimes it takes intentionally putting the beauty before our eyes and hearts for it to begin to sink in. 

Maybe, you spend time intentionally seeing beauty in the women around you. What unique gifts can you celebrate in others? Can you write someone a note about it? How has God gifted you with eyes to see the beauty in and around you? 

Sweet friend, you are a gift. I pray you come to see that more and more each day. I pray that you see God has given you eyes to see his goodness in you and those around you.