Positively Beautiful
Related Scripture: “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Ps. 139:14 NIV).
Introduction
There’s so much pressure today to maintain our physical body. Everywhere we look there are billboards for exercise and weight loss products, beauty items and cosmetic procedures. There are products that claim just take this to become ‘a more beautiful and awesome you.’ But what does the Bible say about true beauty? First Peter 3:3,4 tells us “Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.
Service Project Ideas
Chair Exercise Class for Seniors
Contact a local nursing home or independent living residence to arrange for the group to visit to conduct a chair exercise class. Take lively music to play during the class. After securing approval from the administration, hand out goodie bags of applesauce or fresh fruit to the participants. Following is a link to a free collection of seated workouts:
https://darebee.com/collections/seated-workouts-collection.html
Shut-in Visitation
Check with a local nursing home or those who are shut-in to see if they need individuals to provide hair washes or manicures, or to provide transportation to the salon for these services.
Spa Day at a Women’s Shelter
Plan and arrange for a spa day at a women’s shelter. Provide manicure, make-up station, foot baths, or facial masks. Serve healthy refreshments of fruit, yogurt with granola, or a veggie tray with dip.
Healthy Cooking Class
Conduct a cooking class or invite a professional chef to provide a cooking class to teach the women how to plan and cook healthy meals. For the underserved populations, consider demonstrating recipes that use canned vegetables/beans and common pantry staples. Include the use of new cooking methods like using an InstaPot or an Air Fryer, or baked sheet pan dinners. Women from a nearby shelter or social service clients could be included in this class. Following is a link to healthy canned food recipes: https://www.eatthis.com/canned-food-recipes/
This link is another website about healthy eating and living https://nutritionfacts.org/
To a Healthier You
If you are like me, at the beginning of each new year, I resolve to do something to lose weight, to get heathier by beginning a new diet or exercise program. And then by February, the old habits creep back in, and I find my hand in the cookie jar far more often than it should.
In today’s world, it is easy to get caught up in the comparison game as we size ourselves up against what the world deems beautiful, and often come up lacking.
Let’s take another look at Psalm 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” This verse points out that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you are from or what you look like, you my friend, are fearfully and wonderfully made. Have you ever looked in the mirror and told yourself that you are average, inadequate, or not enough? If so, then you’re not seeing yourself the way God sees you. You are not seeing yourself as a result of God’s divine creation. Let’s read again how David describes us to God. (Read Ps. 139:14). The psalmist is praising God because he is overwhelmed by the majesty of a God who could create him in such an intricate and unique way. David is in complete awe of our amazing God. However, to say, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” while praising God seems like a rather odd thing to do, right? However, read it again. God made you to be special. No, I’m not trying to flatter you, it really means that! There is no one else like you. You are the only you that God has ever created. God made you to be special, distinguished, and unique. So what David is saying is, “Lord, I praise you because of how amazing you made me!”
Every single person is a masterpiece of God. Think about it, there’s seven billion people on the planet, but there is no one else with your fingerprint, or with your retina scan. You are unique. You are an original design. Diamonds are expensive because they are rare, but you’re even more rare. You’re the only one that exists or will ever exist that is exactly like you. That makes you priceless. You are a masterpiece. You are a priceless work of art. It is because God is wonderful, that we are wonderful.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for creating me. Sometimes, it feels like nobody loves me, but I know that you knew me and loved me before I was even born. Thank you for always being with me, even on my darkest days. Help me to love the parts of myself that I’ve struggled to accept. Help me to treat myself and others as your spectacular work of art. Amen.
