Day 19
Following up from an earlier post, Almost Embarrassed to Share. My questions about a possible mascectomy in order to decrease the chance of reoccurance have been answered.
Bottom line is that it wouldn’t improve my chances. This is a major surgery and I’m pleased that I won’t be going through it, but the whole issue has helped me to take a deeper look at my personal self esteem.
I’ve never been a fan of my looks, height, or weight. I hate wearing glasses but can’t wear contacts. I could quickly compile a good sized list of the things I don’t like about myself. So the thought of improving my looks through a medically necessary breast reconstruction was appealing – regardless of the cost to my body.
Beauty, in the Eyes of Our World
We live in a culture that values beauty above all else. Everywhere we look we’re bombarded by airbrushed images of beautiful people, and subliminal messages that tell us we don’t measure up. I know I’m not alone in feeling this way…. so let’s take a minute together to consider the truth.
You and I are beloved children of God, each created through his perfect design. Before we were conceived He had a plan and a purpose for every one of us. The average adult body consists of around 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (7 octillion) atoms that work together in perfect unison. Each cell has a purpose, whether it’s to pump around 2,000 gallons of blood throughout the body each day, digest food to produce energy, initiate approximately 17,000 breaths daily, to power the super-computer known as the brain, or to perform any of the other bodily functions that occur effortlessly.
We are spiritual beings, living very temporary lives in physical bodies that will be turned to dust in the blink of an eye. The world, with its constant focus on outward beauty, wants us to be concerned with vanity and pride. It’s all an illusion that seeks to drown out the truth; that God loves us just as we are, and that our eternal souls ARE who we are.
A couple of great scriptures to contemplate on:
Psalm 139:13-14 ESV
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
1 Samuel 16:7 ESV
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Love you