BEAUTY TIP #33 “Radiance”
Posted: January 21, 2011
I yearn to be radiant. Not the kind where I walk into a room with the perfect outfit, a forced smile and all the right answers; but a radiance that has the effervescent glow of something more powerful, beautiful. I crave a radiance that does not scream my obvious striving, or cover my messiness and grittiness.
I am helpless to attain this but I am on journey and quest to find it. Every morning I start by talking to God about my plans for the day and off I go to embrace the day with a smile on my face. Grittiness sets it. I get irritated, people let me down, and I compare and feel insignificant and wonder if I will ever get it right.
I’m not the only one; I hear weary sighs and laments from people everywhere. Demands and expectations have clogged our days and we lose sight of our own beauty and our passion for the One who created us and made us this way. I know that we all want to take moments to gaze at the full moon, watch the miraculous snowflakes, hear the laughter of little children, smell the pages of a new book, light a candle and have an intimate conversation with someone we love.
Last night I attended a live sports event and observed everyone striving to be a winner. I also saw the utter disgust on a participant’s face when they missed a shot and slapped themselves on their forehead. The invisible words screamed, “I am such a looser.” That seems to be the game of life; we try so hard, don’t live up to our expectations, then shame sets in, we beat ourselves up…we feel like a looser.
We all want to be a winner; we need someone to say to us, “You are the most wonderful person I have ever met.” We crave to know that we are fabulous, have value and that we contribute something valuable to this life. I know that I can have that radiance if I keep my passion for Christ’s love alive in me.
We live in this daily tension of craving for radiance, and ending up in shame. I know we were not meant to live that way. The bible tells me, “I sought the Lord and He answered me; he delivered me from my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame” (Psalm 34:4-5 NIV).
What blocks us? The grittiness of shame. The shame that points a finger at us and screams: You will never be enough, no matter how hard you try.
What a lie! That is exactly what Christ died for, so that we would no longer have to feel that way. He died to change our grittiness to radiance.
In my new book SAND TO PEARLS: Making BOLD Choices to Enrich Your Life, chapter 11 entitled “Who do you want me to be?” explains the 2 different types of shame and how God helps us to remove them.
Be bold girlfriend, let your raidance shine. It’s available and free for the asking.
