Beauty or Beast?

My Beauty and the Beast Within...

In the mirror, do you see a Beauty or Beast?

by Melisa Steele

What is beauty? Who determines something like that? Who is worthy enough of being granted that right to tell me or you that we aren’t beautiful?

Beauty. Does it lie in the eye of the beholder? Who are the beholders to judge? You behold images, what do you see when you look in the mirror? Is it a crystal clear image?

Look deep into those eyes, the very windows to your soul. Who do you see? Is it someone beautiful or is it someone in pain or in agony or someone wearing a mask?

Beauty or Beast?

Are you sure it’s even you? Have you been deceived? Have you ever noticed someone else staring back at you?

I used to see an ugly girl, a beast peering back at me through the glass. Until one day, the day that changed everything. A day that began just like any other until I got to that mirror and I looked at me but me didn’t look back. There was something different this time - my eyes had a strange twinkle in them.

Who is that I thought?

Intriguing...

Right where my image normally stood was something beautiful... So amazingly beautiful, who could help but stare. The beast no longer stood there and the girl in its place was captivating!

Captivating...

Then the unthinkable happened – my replacement spoke and you know what? It wasn’t me! It was the Holy Spirit that dwells in me. And in words that sounded just like love said,

“The amazingly beautiful image that you now see is exactly what I see every time I look at you! You are that beautiful to me, you captivate me! You are a unique, creative masterpiece designed in the mind and image of God. This world has made you blind to who you really are.”

Blindness...

The voice of love continued,

“Satan kidnapped you, the princess of a King and cursed you to see a beast. He told you that you would never be good enough. He whispered to you that it was hopeless, that no one could like you much less love a hideous creature like you. He bound you to pain, to lies, he held you prisoner to the thought that no one cares. He forced you to drink the poison of his lies to keep you hidden from the truth that would set you free. Every day the beast came to tell you to live up to the high, unattainable standards. He showed through masterfully crafted media what beauty looks like,(false beauty).

You were promised happiness but tricked into striving for a beauty of this world that would leave you empty, unsatisfied, and miserable. I’ve emerged to tell you to look deeper, look at who you really are. You are the very example of what true and honest beauty is. When the world looks at you that is what it sees, it’s jealousy hates you because you don’t belong to it, because of your beauty”

Yes, the beast blinded me from real beauty but Love came to remind me and have me spread the word that you are beautiful, no matter who you are or what you have been through, No matter how you feel today or what you think you see, YOU are beautiful!

Beauty or Beast?

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