There Is Beauty In Your Uniqueness

Does anyone else find it hard to believe that we are almost a third of the way through 2018? Time just seems to be flying. Summer is just around the corner and I can’t wait. That may be due to the fact that here in Georgia we aren’t really experiencing spring, but more of a never-ending peek-a-boo winter that makes it impossible to pick out an outfit in the morning. (If you live in the south, you know exactly what I’m talking about.) But I digress. 

As I think back over the first third of the year and its highs and lows, one of the things that comes to mind was my New Year’s Resolution. And by that I mean, I can’t even remember what it was. (#NewYearSameMe) Meanwhile, as I was trying to ignore my lack of ability to stick with my New Year’s goals, one of my friends and her resolution last year came to mind, and I really wanted to share it with you. 

On January 1, 2017, my friend Bethany decided that she was going to take a picture of the sunset every single day for a year. 365 photos from the same spot, around the same time of day, in front of the same group of trees near her apartment. And unlike most people (aka me) who make goals on New Year’s, Bethany actually accomplished hers. 

Last week, I went to the Instagram account where she posted all of the pictures, and I took some time to scroll through everything. And can I just tell you, those pictures absolutely blew me away. 

Not only were the sunsets breathtakingly beautiful, but they were all completely different. No two pictures looked the same. Some were orange with traces of pink. Others were almost bright red. Some were covered by clouds and rainy weather. There were even a couple featuring a blanket of snow! 

As I looked through those pictures, one by one, I couldn’t help but smile. Our God is detailed. He is a Creator of masterpieces. He colored in every single one of those sunsets at the top of that hill. And if He was that intentional about creating each of those sunsets, imagine how intentional He was when He created you. 

Unfortunately, that’s not usually the way we think about ourselves. Instead, we pick ourselves apart. We look in the mirror, looking for any trait that could be deemed a flaw. 

And then, we take it a step further…we start comparing ourselves to everyone around us. 

I get it. Comparison is a huge struggle, especially for us girls. For some reason, whenever we see another girl, it’s so easy for us to start sizing her up. We try to determine who has the better hair, the better figure, or the better outfit. And then we get discouraged and insecure when we don’t win one, or any, of those comparisons. We start to think things like, 

“I wish my hair was the same color as hers.”

“I wish I could pull off that outfit.”

“I wish my eyelashes were that long.”

“I wish I was as tall as her.”

“I wish I was ______ like she is.”

I don’t know about you, but when I put all of those statements together, they basically lead me to one conclusion:

“I’ll never be beautiful if I don’t look like that.”

Let me tell you something, sweet friend. That’s just a flat out lie. 

You don’t have to look like the “perfect” girl to be beautiful. You were made the way you are on purpose. God was so intentional to give you the characteristics, the traits, and the features that He gave you. He didn’t make a single mistake when He made you. He says so Himself:

“You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you.” - Song of Solomon 4:7 (NIV)

“The Lord has made everything for his own purposes,” - Proverbs 16:4a (NLT)

“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it.” - Psalm 139:14 (NLT)

I’m hoping you’re soaking in those words, that you don’t just read them once and then move on. There is so much truth and love woven into those verses, and my prayer is that you will believe they are true about you. 

Not once does God say, “If you look like _____, then you are beautiful.” And the fact that He doesn’t word it that way gives us so much freedom. Freedom to be who He created us to be and to embrace the way He created us to look. 

When I was a little girl, my parents always used to tell me that if everyone was the same, the world would be so boring. I thought it was the biggest cliche ever, but it turns out they were right. 

Think about it. If all of those sunset pictures my friend Bethany took turned out to look exactly the same, there would have been nothing special about the collection of pictures. Honestly, I probably would have scrolled through a few, realized they looked like copies of each other, and moved onto something else in my feed. 

BUT…the fact that they were all so different was what made them so magnificent, so unique, so beautiful. And that’s exactly the way we should think about ourselves and the way we were created. 

It would be so boring if every single girl on the planet had the same body type, the same hair color, the same features. Even if they were absolutely gorgeous, it wouldn’t matter. There would be nothing special about any of them because they would all look exactly alike. 

There is beauty in uniqueness my friend. There is beauty in YOUR uniqueness. 

So, my hope is that going forward, when you start to compare yourself with someone else, when you try to see if you measure up, that you’ll stop yourself and think about the sunset. I pray that you will decide to embrace your God-given uniqueness. That you will fall in love with the way He created you. And that you will never forget His words, “You are altogether beautiful.”