hey girl, stop it.

Hey girl. Yes, you. The one who looked in the mirror today and cried. The one who won't admit she's afraid of people. Of their thoughts. Their words. Their stares. 

The one who tries so hard to smile. The butterfly who can't see past her cocoon. The one who hides from cameras; who shuts her eyes when she walked past the magazine aisle.

The one who has read a dozen posts and e-mails and articles and books like this, yet is still stuck in that rut of insecurity. 

The girl who thinks that she's the only one who's got a tangled heart. 

Well, lady, you might have had this message hammered into you a million times over, or maybe this is the first time you've heard it. Either way, pretty girl, I'm talking to you on purpose. And I have two words to say: stop it. 

Stop. It. 

Halt. Pause. Breathe. Think. Cease to wallow on the ground--get up and shake the dust off.  

Do you know who you are? I mean, really? Do you know who you are? You aren't your own person to degrade and pity. You are Someone else's intricate, glorious, dazzling masterpiece. The face in the mirror that you bemoan on bad days isn't your's to slander. And can't you see? It distinctly and visibly echoes the beauty of the Most Beautiful One. Look:

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well." (Psalm 149:13)

Fearfully and wonderfully made. He says so.

So stop cursing yourself. 

And your tangled heart? Yes, I have one too, and so does she, the covergirl, and she, the Harvard graduate, and she, the president's wife, and she, the Olive Garden waitress.

Want to know something else?

Those messy, breakable, boy-crazy, scratched up, scarred, insecure, dented, painted over, wistful, selfish, flimsy paper hearts aren't our's to untangle.

So stop trying. 

Hey girl. Yes, you, lovely. The one sitting behind your screen biting your nails and still trapped in a world of uncertainty. You're beautiful. Have you heard it before? I'll wager you have. It's a message that's out there, constantly, on Facebook statuses, on Pinterest memes, in girlie pep talk books, and on the lips of your friends. But have you ever believed it? Have you ever sat back and realized who you are, what you are, and where you are? Have you ever contemplated your worth? The fact and reality of how blessed you are to have beauty--not your beauty, but His.

So stop pretending. Stop not believing. Stop cutting you and your beautiful, beautiful self down, because it's Jesus' beauty, too.

Hey girl. Dear one. Magnificent one. Beautiful one. Don't you hear His still, small voice? He isn't yelling, "STOP, YOU FOOL!," He's whispering, "Stop, beloved. Stop trying to exist on your own, and let me untangle your heart and wipe your tears."


p.s. (this post wasn't for you. it was for me. but thanks for eavesdropping.)

-photo copyright lucia m., 2013-