So alot of women have been coming up to me and saying how much they hated their body after a baby. They want to change this or that. They can't get rid of that pooch on their belly, they are ashamed of their stretch marks, etc. All this makes me sad because they say "you will change your mind as soon as you have the baby."
Well for one I rebuke that right here and right now. I must be the odd ball here, but I love my "extras", lol. I feel beautiful when I look at my growing belly in the mirror. I have stretch marks that go well over my belly button and I'm ok with it. I have a scary looking varicose vein on the back of my leg that totally scared me when I went to try on maternity clothes at Target one day. I had no idea what it was and until I realized I thought something was horribly medically wrong with me or the baby. When the revelation came, I was like whew! That's all it is...
I consider these things my body is going through to be apart of one of the most important journeys of my life. My stretch marks are my badges of honor, because I carried a baby for nine months and gave birth. I am a mom. I am beautiful. Every bit of me, every bit of the new me. My body has done what it is designed to do. Produce fruit. Give life. I'm so amazed, it leaves me speechless.
I don't know if the change came after the miscarriage or what, but I used to have a vanity issue about this. Right now I'm just thankful I can produce life. Yes, I have my moments where I'm tired, irritable, heart burny, still struggle with morning sickness (yes, I'm one of those pregnant ladies who did not get to leave their morning sickness in the first trimester, sigh), and a plethora of other things. But I want to stay joyful over each and every thing. I want to look at the past 9 months when my daughter arrives and say every bit of it was worth it and that I would do it again in a heartbeat.
We all get so wrapped up in our physical appearance, but what about our heart appearance. If we are so concerned with the external, the internal is not being cultivated and can look pretty ratty in no time. Please understand, I'm not saying throw your diets out the window and wear sweat pants everywhere. There is a place for appearance, but it should be secondary and not consume us.
I think we need to have a healthy mindset of who we are, what we aren't, and where our approval comes from. Only then will the external truly reflect the internal.
I'm on a mission to stop "fat talking myself". Please visit operationbeautiful.com to join the mission. I want to stop saying if only this were better or I had prettier skin, or I lost 50 pounds, etc. I need to be realistic and say, Yes I want to be healthy and with God as my focus throughout this process it will happen. And I want to tell myself daily how beautiful I am because I am God's masterpiece.
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