Do you ever have those days where you look in the mirror and just think to yourself "Man, I look good today!"? Well today was one of those days. It's not because I had just been to the spa, it's not even because I showered. I thought through my actions the past couple of days to figure out what has made this occur. I have come up with three things that I’ve been doing that influence the way I look (and feel) today.
The first thing is taking time to speak with God. Lately I've been riding my bike and running more than usual so that gives me extra time to think and pray over God's truth. I have nothing else to do during this time so I use it as a chance to go on a run/ride with my Creator. A time for Him to show me the beauty of the place He has put me in. This is a time to be filled with strength and endurance to follow Him (and finish my exercise). In Exodus 34:29 the author writes about how Moses goes atop the mountain, speaks with God, and then comes down the mountain, glowing with beauty after speaking to his Lord. There's no easier way to look beautiful than to spend time with the One who created your beauty and thinks you are the prettiest in the world.
Next is drinking tons of water. I gave blood this week and I always try and drink enough fluids to make the giving process the easiest and fastest it can be. Then I decided to start drinking a liter of water as soon as I wake up in the morning to detox the insides. Drinking water is like a game to me, to see how much water I can suck through the straw of my water bottle or water blatter. Using my Camelbak water bottle I can easily stock up on the liquids I need. Not only water but also eating healthy and exercising is important as well. When I was younger, growing up in a church, I was filled with the thoughts of "your face doesn't make you beautiful", "your outward appearance doesn't matter", and "it's about your heart, not your make-up or jewelry". I never connected the two worlds of faith and exercise. I felt that is I would exercise it means I care more about my body then my faith. After reading this article…
(http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Diet/faith-fat-religious-youths-obese-mid-life/story?id=13204624)
I finally connected my "beliefs" and "thoughts" discovering that it was really great to learn about inner beauty in youth group, as a growing girl I needed to learn modesty and not how to get ahead by using my looks, but it would have been nice to have the chance to learn about being healthy and how it affects your faith. (I mean the game of La'Roach is awesome, don’t get me wrong. I did learn some games in youth group.)
As Christians we have to be prepared for anything and that means beating our bodies into submission! Using what I learned during exercise can be equated to my spiritual walk. In Ephesians 6 it tells us to put on the armor of God. Armor isn’t light and it takes someone in shape to be able to move with it on. I've never learned discipline better than the season I ran cross country in college. I learned the beauty of practicing and working everyday to feel prepared for racing. I can relate that to spending time in God’s word and working toward a goal in faith everyday makes me feel ready to conquer the attacks on my heart. I can’t go without running for a week and expect to be fast at a race and I can’t go without being captivated by my God and expect to not fall into self-pity.
Camaraderie, or being apart of a team, is needed in this life to survive and thrive! As a team all the runners knew what I was going through and were super encouraging because of that. On the flip side I finally understood the craziness people have to be able to do something like cross country. It's the same as Christians walking in faith. We know that someone in our big human family knows what we are going through with persecution, daily struggles, and trying to stay fully committed to our walk. To be beautiful, you need to feel beautiful; water and exercise really do the trick in making your body think it's beautiful with all the benefits and stress relieving they contain. Don't forget that what you put in is what you get out! If you eat chocolate cake you’re not going to be pooping out carrots!
The last thing that makes anyone feel beautiful is the power of encouraging, complimentary words. Proverbs 16:24 says “kind words are like honey—sweet to the soul and healthy for the body”. When you are having a rough day at work there’s nothing better than the words of a co-worker or boss saying “good job on that project. You really nailed it.” or when you are feeling ubber ugly and someone compliments your hair or your outfit choice it brightens our thoughts. Words are our attitude builders or destroyers throughout our day. Even the tone of our speech can affect someone’s day. If someone yells at you or talks with no interest in their voice, the words resonate as a bad thing. James 3:1-12 talks about how important our tongue and our speech really are. Our words are the reflection of our hearts, we have to reflect on what we say so we can tell where our hearts are focused. Is the heart focused on love or on selfish desires? Have you spoken building/encouraging words or hurtful/spiteful words? A beautiful women’s beauty is also shown through her mouth! Using Twain’s quote we can replace “a fool” with “beautiful” and it means the same thing! “It's better to stay silent and look a fool, rather than speak and remove all doubt.” - Mark Twain.
