The Most Beautiful Parts of You Can’t Be Seen in a Mirror

It’s a Tuesday.

And I rolled slothfully out of bed today just to stand staring at myself in the mirror, trying to see something good in the reflection. Trying to find something in this face and this body that I could call beautiful.

And we’re always standing here in front of polished sand trying to figure out who we are, trying to see if we measure up.

The truth is there ain’t much good in staring at your reflection because the most beautiful parts of yourself cant be seen there.

Now I am not about to serve up some hallow cliches for you to cling to. I am not going to tell you  your true beauty lies in your talents, and choices, and relationships. While those things are true and while it’s true that beauty is more than just our outward appearance there is still something in all of us that I think longs to be looked at as beautiful on the outside as well.

So that’s what I am saying, girl.

The most beautiful parts of you can’t be seen in a mirror.

Because you can stare into your green eyes and check to make sure your mascara went on right but you will never see the way your eyes sparkle when you laugh belly deep or the way they snap in your sarcastic moments or how they dance when you see his face smiling at you.

You can look at the way your thighs and hips fit into your new pair of jeans but you will never be able to see how they roll and sway graceful when you’re dancing crazy in the bathroom with your best friend.

And you can pinch at your arms and flex in the mirror but you’ll never see how good they look when you’re carrying heavy moving boxes for your newly married friends or how your forearms flex sexy strong when you lift up your little cousin to swing him around laughing.

You  can do your nails and admire your fingers but you will never see how beautiful they look clasped in between someone else’s fingers or how gracefully they fly over guitar strings. Or how warm they feel to your grandma or how soft they still seem to your Father. You will never know how great your hand looks going in for a high five.

And you can color and curl and pull your hair all sorts of ways but you’ll never see how attractive it looks blowing back in the car with the windows down or how it hangs all messy beautiful after your morning run or the way it falls soft around your shoulders just after waking up.

We can prep our bodies for the day ahead but we don’t really get to see them in action. That’s why you can’t see the most beautiful parts of yourself in the mirror. Because so much of your outward beauty is found not in what your body is but in what it can do. 

And maybe you can’t see it in the mirror right now because the beauty of your body shines so much brighter in the mundane motion of everyday life.

In the laughing, praying, running errands, cleaning, working hard and playing hard motions of life.

And maybe that’s why people keep telling you that you’re beautiful.

And maybe you should start believing them.

Smile at yourself and rest in the fact that you’re body is pretty freaking great.

It’s beautiful.

You’re beautiful.

Be brave enough to believe in your beauty, even if when you don’t see it.

Love ya, Girl.

 

~Britt