His Beauty, My Truth

     It never ceases to amaze me how movies portray a picture of real life truths.   I watched “Penelope” last night.  It’s now on my “all-time favorites list”.

     Penelope was born with a deformity as a result of a family curse.  Her parents confined her to the house to protect her from ridicule.  They believed the only way she would break free from the power of the curse was through marriage to one of her kind, someone of nobility.  They had to find a man who would want her.  Suitors were paraded in while she hid behind a secret window.  Once she revealed herself they would run.

     As the story unfolds, Penelope decides to run away.  She’s done with possible suitors and rejection.  She’s weary of her mother’s attempts to give her the life she’s always wanted for her. On her own, Penelope begins to discover who she is.  She learns to love herself, the curse is broken and her true beauty is restored.  I love the picture this movie gives.

     We all come into this world exposed to the curse of sin, a result of the fall.   While under sin’s influence people do things that hurt us.  We believe things about ourselves that are not true.  The result is, we live without seeing our true, God-given beauty.  

          

     We want desperately to find value.  We want to have some type of beauty and meaning to our lives.   We find ourselves turning to people, things and even good Godly activities, in hopes that the power of our curse will be broken.

 

      I turned to men.  If I could just have a husband then maybe I would feel wanted, loved, accepted.  I dated around until my husband was brought to me.  Pieces of my heart were left scattered.  By the time I married I was a broken woman, looking for someone to remove the curse of rejection.   It wasn’t possible.  No one could give me that.

        

      There was one scene in the movie that really hit me.  One man sees Penelope’s inner beauty, but saw himself as a failure because he could not give her what she wanted.  He says, “I didn’t have the power to break the curse.” 

   

      That was my husband.  No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remove the curse of rejection from me.  He couldn’t give me the value I so longed for.   I almost killed him with my need. Though he tried, my husband could not give me what God asked me to give to myself, His truth of who I am.

     The best line in the movie is, “It’s not the power of the curse, it’s the power you give the curse.”  Sin cursed us.  It tainted our identity.  But the curse was broken.  Jesus broke every one, yet so often we keep them alive.

      We’ve been given the newly transplanted heart of Christ.  Our old man identity has been crucified with Him.  It’s a new day.  We can now choose what we will see and live.  The messages brought to us by our own sins and the sins of others are vanquished.  We have a new lens to see through.  He opens our eyes to His vision.  Will we give a look and see?

       We keep the power of the curse alive when we look through eyes that are not His.  He sees things differently from what we see.  If we saw what He saw, there would be nothing to be insecure about.  If we are going to see Him as He is, then we must see us as we are.  We must see through His eyes and give ourselves what He asks us to give, love and acceptance.

      Penelope broke the power the curse had over her when she accepted herself for who she was.  That’s my story.  No man could give me the value I so desperately wanted.  I received it from God and began to give it to myself.   

      

     Insecurities drop off when we choose to live in the truth of who God says we are.  Sins, mistakes, feelings, do not define us.  God does.   I am not who I thought I was.  I am more, so much more.  So are you.   Penelope had the power to break through and she didn’t know it, the power lay in loving herself.

       It is finished, Jesus said.  All curses are broken.  We are free to live as ones forgiven and loved deeply by our God.  He has loved you.  Will you now love yourself?  

       Reflections:

1.  What do you see?  Whose eyes are you looking through?

2.  What do you say to yourself about you?  Is it what He would say?  If not, then why would you?

3.  Do you ask Him what He sees in you?

      

 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Galatians 5:1b

Also posted at the Internet Cafe

©copyrighted:  2009 Julie L. Todd