Day Ten: EXPECTATIONS


For as she thinks in her heart, so is she.
—PROVERBS 23:7 (AUTHOR’S PARAPHRASE)

With repeated exposure to harmful, degrading messages about our appearance and weight, we become maimed and lessened in our souls. We see the finished product of advertising and feel frustration. We are real women, with real lives. Nobody’s standing around to airbrush us or check for stray hairs. The older we get, the further we move from the “ideal,” and we become further disenfranchised from beauty. We have spent our lives being told beauty was only just beyond our reach; now we are told it is lost to us forever.

When we allow someone else to set our expectations, we allow someone else to control our destiny. Expectations are powerful precursors to action. A wise man once told me that in life, “your expectations will be met.” Expectations condition us to respond and receive. Expectations are deeply connected to our thoughts, and these thoughts shape our destiny.

If you believe beauty is within you, no matter how it is manifested on the outside, you will see yourself as beautiful. Others will respond this way as well. You create a self-fulfilling prophecy with every bit of inner dialogue. If you tell yourself you don’t measure up, you won’t. You’ll fall short and cringe when people look closely at you. You’ll shy away from your birthright. The world wants to set your expectations for you and to whisper to you degrading beliefs about yourself, because fearful women make millions of dollars for callous companies.

Can you find the courage to defy the world and change your expectations? Can you expect to be pleased when you see yourself in the mirror tomorrow morning? Can you expect to be loved and accepted?

Ask: God, reset my expectations.

Believe: I expect to see the beauty in myself.

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