recapturing beauty.

today, i have been thinking a lot about the beauty that surrounds us.  beauty is everywhere.  we are enveloped by beautiful blossoms in particular this time of year.  the rain is also quite beautiful.  so are the foggy clouds as they paint the mountains around where i live.  and the sunsets these days?  gorgeous.

and then i started contemplating another kind of beauty.  a beauty that is so often ignored.  

our bodies.

{take it from a nursing student to bring that up}

the body is one of god's greatest creations.  it is an amazingly intricate network of systems and organs working together to produce one living, breathing soul with a beating heart.  all the systems working together function with so much finesse and poise to protect the body against the wear-and-tear of the world.  just the network of blood vessels in our bodies is a wonderful sight to behold:

{from the bodies museum exhibit, which i saw in NY three years ago. source.}

despite all that it allows us to do {and the incredible capacity to run smoothly and keep us healthy and feeling well most of the time}, the beauty of our bodies is so often ignored.  so often, little outward imperfections of our bodies drive us completely nuts.  "my thighs are fat", "i have a double chin", "i wish my breasts were bigger", "i wish i didn't sweat so much", "i'm so bony", "my feet are big".  {etc. etc. etc.}  what is wrong with imperfections?  everybody has them.  {everybody, except supermodels, that is.  because their pictures are fixed in photoshop to diminish or eliminate any minuscule imperfection on their skinny little bodies....}

ask yourself, why am i so critical of my body?  {i'll give you a hint - maybe it's because you see this all day...}

and yet i still look through the magazines and think, how do i compare?

well, true beauty lies in our attitude and our hearts.  even a simple smile, {as i was told by all my friends in high school,} can make a girl so much more attractive.

so today, i am starting a challenge.  just a ten-day challenge to recapture the beauty and remember all the great things that our bodies can do.  {feel free to do it with me, if you chose!}

day 1:  write in your journal ten things that you are grateful for that your body allows you to do.  my top three:
my body enables me to....
1)  have children {someday}
2)  eat delicious food {and enjoy it!}
3)  go running, hiking, jumping, skiing, kayaking, 4-wheeling. {and a plethora of other things that i love to do}

let's recapture the beauty.