by Natalie Lynn Borton
I discovered this quote a while ago, but had forgotten about it until recently when a dear friend reminded me of it. It’s such a beautiful truth, isn’t it? We hate to struggle and we crave to be beautiful, but what if in order to be truly beautiful, we had to experience the pain, suffering and loss we constantly try to avoid in life?
Beauty isn’t about lipstick and skinny jeans and perfect looking locks. It’s rooted deep within—it’s found in the depths of the soul. It’s not so much that pain makes us beautiful, but rather what comes from it. When we go through difficulties in life—be it unemployment, death of a loved one, an eating disorder, depression, a tough family life, you name it—it makes us humble. Rather than demonstrating pride or arrogance that can so often come with life being perfect, painful experiences make us people who care.
Though trying times can often cause us to be inwardly focused for a season while we process, that time of introspection creates self-awareness, and when combined with the healing that comes in time, it produces compassion, empathy, gentleness and love that wasn’t there before.
I truly believe that with each trial we face in life, we have the opportunity to become more and more beautiful. To paraphrase Beth Moore, all that we’ve done or has been done to us in our past exists to make space for grace. The more grace we experience, the more capacity we have to love, and the more beautiful we become.
Beauty isn’t about lipstick and skinny jeans and perfect looking locks. It’s rooted deep within—it’s found in the depths of the soul. It’s not so much that pain makes us beautiful, but rather what comes from it. When we go through difficulties in life—be it unemployment, death of a loved one, an eating disorder, depression, a tough family life, you name it—it makes us humble. Rather than demonstrating pride or arrogance that can so often come with life being perfect, painful experiences make us people who care.
Though trying times can often cause us to be inwardly focused for a season while we process, that time of introspection creates self-awareness, and when combined with the healing that comes in time, it produces compassion, empathy, gentleness and love that wasn’t there before.
I truly believe that with each trial we face in life, we have the opportunity to become more and more beautiful. To paraphrase Beth Moore, all that we’ve done or has been done to us in our past exists to make space for grace. The more grace we experience, the more capacity we have to love, and the more beautiful we become.
How has pain in your past made you a more beautiful woman today?