His Piéce de Résistance

I look outside the window this morning. Overcast and windy, it appears to be a perfectly blustery October morning. A long sleeve shirt might actually be appropriate attire for this Texas fall day. I check the weather online. High of 80?! Just to be sure, I go to the French doors to step outside onto my balcony. Hmmm... sure enough, it is a warm 65-ish degrees at 8 am. This Texas weather is playing tricks on my mind, I think. It certainly looks cold out, but my thermoreceptors tell me otherwise.

Isn't that how life is sometimes? What is seen doesn't always match what is felt. Many of us experience this in our relationship with the mirror. Lately, I have been feeling quite beautiful. I want to dance around the house and let out a big "EEEEEE!!" I am loved. I am happy. I am content. And that makes me feel so beautiful. But then I look in the mirror. Flaky skin, a zit on my chin, too many gray hairs for my age. This mirror is playing tricks on my mind, I think. I sigh and wish how I felt inside showed on the outside. I'd be a freaking super model. And then there are the days in which I feel ugly with so many things I'd like to fix. Plastic surgery is alluring. Comparisons are made. I look with those same comparing eyes and try to make myself feel better. "You're better looking than so-and-so." "Other women would die to have your abs!" "At least you don't have this flaw! Or that!" And the twisted inner talk continues. A stranger may look at me and think I am quite beautiful, but I don't feel that way.

And I know I'm not alone in this. An estimated 8 million Americans struggle with eating disorders, 7 million of those are females. I can only imagine the number of people who struggle with self-image issues. I'd venture to say close to 100% of humans at some point have felt that they are not particularly beautiful. But it's all a big, fat, ugly lie. God, the Creator of waterfalls, mountains, snowflakes, peacocks, sunsets, clouds, flowers, trees, oceans, and all the beautiful things of this world says YOU are more valuable than the birds of the air and more beautiful than lilies. He created so many marvels and things of great splendor, yet He felt that something was missing so He created man in His image. And even then, something was still missing: woman.

Don't you see it? You are His piéce de résistance, the best part of all creation, the grand finalé. Dear sister, you are His masterpiece. He crafted you with care and saved the best of creation for last. He is the greatest artist of all; no man can match His artistry. Each great artist simply tries to copy His original works. Every sunset ever painted, every woman ever sculpted, every poem ever penned, and every melody ever notated, are simply counterfeits. When we look in the mirror and start picking apart every little thing we'd like to change, it's like looking up at the Sistine Chapel and thinking of all the things we'd like to change about it. When you berate yourself, you are insulting the great virtuoso Himself. You are pissing on the Mona Lisa. You are taking a crap on the Starry Night. You are rolling your eyes at the Statue of David.

If we look in the mirror with the right eyes, we see that there really is nothing to fix. Just like the many wonders of this world, both natural and man-made, we are prized works of art. After all, we are made by the Creator of the starry hosts, in His perfect, loving, and holy image. You see, when we look in the mirror, we are not only looking at a great masterpiece, but God Himself. So please stop insulting him.