You Are Beautiful God says, “You are beautiful.”   I say, “No I’m not.” God says, “Do you think I am a liar then?”   I say, “Of course not, You are God.   You do not lie.” God says, “Do you think I am mistaken then?”   I say, “Of course not, You are God.   You do not make mistakes.” God says, “Do you think you know yourself better than I know you?”   I say, “Of course not, You are God.   You see everything. You know me better than I know myself.” God says, “Do you think I created something ugly and bad when I created you?”   I say, “Of course not, You are God.   You create, and You see it is good.” God says, “Do you think you are more powerful than me? Perhaps I create you beautiful, but you change yourself?”   I say, “Of course not, You are God.   How can I be so powerful as to change the essence You give me?” God says, “When you look at it, what you think about me is insulting.   You think I am a liar, or mistaken, or don’t know you well, or create bad things, or that I’m less powerful than you.”   I say, “I’ve never looked at it that way before.” God says, “Do you listen to other people more than you listen to me?”   I say, feeling ashamed, “Yes Lord. But I thought they were talking for You.”   God gives me a look of sadness and frustration that His people do not always speak His words. God says, “You are beautiful.”   I say…, and I don’t know what to say. My head, full of contradictory information, feels like it will burst.   And I know God is telling me something I really don’t want to know.   It goes against what I’ve been taught.   I don’t want to know that everything I’ve been taught is wrong. I reply, saying,   “Yes God, I am beautiful.”   I am crying, and I am confused.   And I feel God will punish me for my pride.   Yet it is God who pushes and pushes me to see this as the truth. God holds me in His love and lets me cry.   “Thank you,” He says. “Thank you for listening.” “Your value is in God's Mind, and therefore not in yours alone. To accept yourself as God created you cannot be arrogance, because it is the denial of arrogance. To accept your littleness is arrogant, because it means that you believe your evaluation of yourself is truer than God's.” It's OK to see that someone is beautiful. © Katherine T Owen, 2009