Dear friend,
God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
I keep thinking about how struggling with body image shows up in a life, not as one bad morning in front of a mirror but as a low hum that runs under ordinary things, choosing what to wear, sitting for a photograph, walking into a room full of people who are not thinking about you at all. I am not going to tell you it is vanity, because I do not believe that, and I am not going to tell you it will resolve itself by Thursday. I want to name it and leave it named. I taught for thirty-one years and watched eight-year-olds already flinch at their own reflections, already sorting themselves into categories no one should have to carry at that age. It does not surprise me that it followed you into adulthood. Genesis 1:27 says God made humankind in His own image, and I notice it does not specify a shape or a size for that image, only that it was made, deliberately, and called good on the same day. That is a strange thing to sit with when the mirror says otherwise. What does your body actually ask of you on an ordinary day, before you start judging it?
A prayer
God, You made her and called it good before she ever learned to doubt that. Meet her in the mirror this week, gently, and let her hear something truer than what her eyes report. Amen.