Photo by Prio
Last Tuesday I was sitting at the clinic and in walked a lovely lady. She sat down and I couldn’t help but notice her beautiful legs; long, tanned, glossy, shaved and unmarred. I looked down at my own legs forlornly. Mine aren’t long, nor tanned and, at the risk of sharing too much information, I don’t shave every day. Mine are marred with scrapes and scars. I obsessed thought about this the rest of the day and would like to share with you my ponderings.
A Beautiful Story
Each of those scars and scrapes on my legs tell a story. Some bear witness to fun filled adventures. I grew up swinging off ropes tied to bridges and landing in the chilly water below. We spent hours snorkeling in the rapids and below the falls. We traipsed through the bush on wild adventures and swam in the lake with the ice. Some remind me of my grand adventures and others of foolish choices resulting in lessons learned. These nicks and scars on my legs are me; the story of my life. These beautiful legs have brought me to where and who I am!
A Beautiful Mission
Though my legs may be scarred, it doesn’t affect their abilities, usefulness and potential. These legs are strong and healthy; they carry me about my day. They bend and jump with my littles, they climb slides and pump swings. They bend in just the right place so I can be on my knees; the most powerful position we can be in if we know the Lord. These legs have a mission and that makes them beautiful!
Beautifully Perfecting
Your legs look different than mine, just as mine looked different than hers. Our legs don’t look the same, nor do our journeys and the paths we have travelled. These legs of mine truly reflect me. I’m scraped up and scarred and, well, unlovely. But each of my wounds the Lord gently healed. He patiently reminds me that each lesson learned has shaped me and is shaping me into the woman He wants me to be. Beauty doesn’t mean perfection and good thing too because I’m not perfect. But He is beautifully perfecting me. That’s sanctification and it’s a process. He assures me that I am full of potential, I’m strong in Him, I have a purpose and, in His eyes, despite my flaws, I’m beautiful {and so are my legs}.
Can you relate? I know it is easier to find a flaw, but what is beautiful to you today?
- This post is part of the 30 minute challenge at Steady Mom.
Amen…Amen. I have a huge scar on my leg from an accident many years ago. It reminds me that God saved my leg and saved my life. It’s part of who I am…and I wouldn’t have it any other way 🙂
This was a wonderful post. I guess we could say this about any part of the body we admire on someone else. I know one part I compare to other women. I have to remember that I fed 4 children from the items I’m envious of! =) So thankful that God sees me thru his eyes and not the eyes of man!
~Mimi
Mimi, I know just the area you are talking about and I’m right there with you 😉
I look at myself in the mirror. Some days I feel pretty. Some days I feel ugly. I have to remember that outside beauty is nothing comparable to a heart that is pure and committed to God’s Work. So, with that in mind, I try to work on His glory, not my vanity.
It’s easy to forget, though!
My grandmother had great legs (she wore a dress and heels every day) and I always hoped when I grew up I’d have legs like hers. The reality is that I have hiked and done home renovations and played with the dog and climbed and wandered in places she would never have gone. I have tripped over logs among the giant redwoods of BC, grazed a shin as I built a shed from scratch, ridden my bicycle way too fast and, in a typically ME moment, burnt myself while ironing.
It’s too late for me to have legs like my grandmother’s. But she will never have the experiences that gave me legs like mine!
I know. It is amazing the adventures and experiences that we can have now. Our lives are so different that when our Gram’s were our age.
The redwoods of BC sound amazing and I giggled that you’d have tripped over them. Sounds like something I would do 🙂
I love this post..it is probably because I feel like I relate so much to it. And lately I think about nothing but my legs and how much I wish sometimes they looked different, and exactly the way that you described that lady’s legs looking like, but mine are exactly the opposite of that, and they are scarred in a different way. I used to be about or more than 200 lbs, and that left scars not only on my legs ( if you want to call them scars ), stretchmarks that have mostly faded, but are still there, discoloration from hormonal changes after 3 pregnancies, and probably the result of a lack of some kind of nutrient in my body due to that too, and most of the time I just obsess about the fact that I cannot wear shorts, I mean I could but I feel too self conscious to do so, or wear a swim suit, which I know I will never wear in my life, and it sort of saddens me..
And then my obsession fades for a while, and I think that what’s inside of me is more beautiful and I shouldn’t worry about little superficial things like that, but then when the feeling comes back it is so hard to make it go away again.
I totally get what you mean, but I am learning to accept myself the way that I am, and learn as well that inner beauty is more important than anything physical, as physical beauty always fades but inner beauty never does 🙂
You know, I think even the women we look at and think, “Wow, they are stunning” probably inside have the same kinds of thoughts we all have. I think the more we admitting it and knowing we aren’t alone helps…at least for me!
Powerful truths!I’ll print this out for my teenage granddaughters. Thank you!
Linda
Linda, I don’t always comment on your site and I should because comments are such an encouragement. Your “quaint I ain’t” moments have been filled with encouragement for me too. Thank you for them 🙂
Awesome insight PTL for every opportunity He uses to teach us.
On a lighter note? Not all those feet are U’Rs are they?
In all your shoe fetish I didn’t recognise them;-D
Nope, they aren’t all mine. I didn’t want pictures of my legs on here. LOL. I grabbed a stock photo off the internet 🙂
It’s funny that you posted this, such a nice reminder to your sister who is turning thirty! As you know I got pregnant with twins when I had JUST turned 20..now I am turning thirty with five little boys I have birthed. I feel a little sad because anyone who has had twins knows the “extra” skin that goes along with it and sometimes it bothers me that it has now been TEN years since I had a cool flat sexy tummy LOL Loved the comment about tripping over trees, with five boys my legs have gone on may adventures and the scars to prove it..and we just got a trailer hitch that I bang my leg on when loading groceries LOL
This is a beautiful post. I HATE my legs, other than their length. But if I look at them in God’s eyes and see where I’ve been it does tell alot about WHO I am! Thanks for sharing!