- I took an excerpt from http://www.net-burst.net/help/feel-ugly.htm go there for further reading about personal stories. smile
Deep Thoughts – by Grantley Morris
Body Dysmorphic Disorder is like using an electron microscope to examine a work of art and complaining that the result looks hideous. If we engage in intense microscopic examination, we will end up so deluded by the details that we completely miss what the artist intended and – surprise, surprise – everything seems meaningless.
It takes no more than average ignorance to look at a painting close up and complain about what seem to be imperfections. You need a great intellect, however, to truly appreciate great art.
Ironically, we live too close to life to be able to see the really big things. Body Dysmorphic Disorder is but one of a huge range of tragic consequences. Squandering our lives chasing after fame or money or pleasure are just a few of the other possibilities. Only faith in God empowers us to see things from the eternal perspective – to sufficiently distance ourselves from the small stuff to see the big picture.
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God,” says 2 Corinthians 4:7.
To become fixated on one’s physical appearance is like being handed a priceless present and mistakenly supposing that the cardboard box it comes in is everything. We become so preoccupied with the packaging, so disappointed with the disposable, that we fail to discover the exquisite gift within.
Significantly, the words prior to “we have this treasure in jars of clay” are:
2 Corinthians 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
If we focus on ourselves, the big things fall out of focus and we end up lost. Only by making Jesus our focus can we find our way out and get on with life.
Someone else with Body Dysmorphic Disorder has kindly let me share her story with you. I'll call her Jan. So acute is her condition that she believes that only about three times in the last fifteen years has she been able to look in the mirror and see what she really looks like, rather than a gross distortion. Amazingly, she confided to me that during her long marriage this affliction has never hindered her intimacy with her husband. She joked that she is “too ugly to walk to the post box but stark naked [making love with her husband] is just fine.” The key to her remarkable freedom is her attitude to lovemaking. Jan says, “I guess it’s because I’m not focused on me – it’s about giving.”
We all know the parable of the talents. A man entrusted his wealth to three servants, assigning them with the task of maximizing his investment. While two worked hard at it, the third put his feet up and did nothing. When the master came to the third servant and discovered that he had not even tried, the master said, “That’s fine. You aren’t as good-looking as the others so you couldn’t have achieved anything anyhow.”
Actually, that’s not quite how Jesus’ parable goes.
It’s vital that we not let ourselves be sidetracked by the superficial and let trivialities trash our enormous potential.
We live in a dangerously shallow world that emphasizes the unimportant. That world will end. Even in this life the outward shell withers and it is only inner beauty – the fruit of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) that lasts.
We must not let the world’s values corrupt us:
Luke 16:15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.”
John 7:24 Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.
1 Samuel 16:7 . . . Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
1 Peter 1:24-25 For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.
1 Peter 3:3-5 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. . . .
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
What turns a “nobody” into a hero? Heroes are ordinary people lucky enough to be thrown into situations where almost everything goes wrong and then they refuse to let that stop them. Within every Christian is the power of an eagle to face contrary winds and soar higher the fiercer they blow. The imperfections of life are our opportunity for glory.
