I hope these statistics horrified you like they did me. But like me, they probably did not surprise you all that much. Body image is one of the most detrimental things to a young person’s health these days. With the push that society around us has made with celebrities and model type bodies, it is no wonder young people are developing eating and mental health disorders. And our vocabulary doesn’t help.Horrible words like fat or ugly are being thrown around. I hate all of these words. To me, these are curse words. When I hear people use them, I cringe, probably outwardly as much as inwardly. I know I probably say them just as much as the next person, but never in my life have I heard more people say these kinds of things about themselves as in college. Not even in high school, where insecurity runs just as rampant as the class goat. (Yes, we had a goat at my school.) Back on point. If I have heard you use any of these words, then I have refrained from smacking you. Or, depending on our relationship, I have actually smacked you. It literally pains me to hear you say things about yourself like this because that is not how I see you at all. And I know without a doubt that is not how God sees you.Is it not strange that some of us call him our God and yet completely ignore the fact that the Bible professes that we are made in his image? Does this not mean that when we degrade our own bodies that we are being directly disrespectful to the God who made us like himself?
I am not sure what your own beliefs on God are, but he does love us. Because of that love, he would never give us something that he would deem ugly or unworthy. In fact for the love of Christ, doesn’t he takes care of us more so than the lilies of the field? (Matthew 6:25-27). So stop worrying about your body. Treat it with the respect and love it deserves, as a gift from the Almighty. You are so freaking beautiful.