God is beautiful and loves beauty
an impulse by Indra Grasekamp for the Word on Sunday, Cellesche Zeitung 11.11.2023
Whitening toothpaste, wrinkle cream, tonic for the hair, revitalising eye cream, restorative preparations, vitamins, probiotic cultures and much more. You are probably familiar with these products from various TV adverts, from the shelves in drugstores and they may even be in your home.
All these products promise us a youthful appearance, health and beauty. At the same time, however, they signal to us that we are not good enough as we are. Not good enough in our appearance, not good enough with our fitness; simply not good enough to cope with everyday life in our society.
And hand on heart: how often have we stood in front of the mirror and been annoyed by our grey hair, wrinkles or extra pounds and wished we were "more beautiful"?
But what does "beautiful" actually mean? Is it really about the flawlessly made-up face, the full red lips, the steel-hard and well-trained body, or does beauty mean much more than that?
"13Youare the one who created my body and my soul; you skilfully formed me in my mother's womb. 14Ithank you that I am so wonderfully created; it fills me with awe." (Ps 139:13f)
The question of beauty is about accepting myself as God has created me. With all my gifts but also my weaknesses, with the body that I have and that changes in the course of my life. Seeing myself as a creature of God and being able to say: "I was meant to be like this. I am beautiful".
In order to accept this, it may help us to look beyond the purely physical and see that our everyday lives are full of beauty. Beauty in literature, in art, in music, in nature, etc.
This diversification, which we also want to look at on ELM Women's Day this Saturday, makes us realise that beauty is more than just chasing after an ideal. It shines in so many facets in our everyday lives, so why shouldn't we describe ourselves, who are part of this creation, as beautiful: "I thank you that I am so wonderfully created".
