On approving our bodies

I’ve always loved a bright color and a little sparkle. I know friends who are the exact opposite and prefer neutrals, a capsule wardrobe they call them. I have admired Diane Keaton with all her black and white. And Betsey Johnson for her wild wardrobe. Maybe it isn’t so much the clothes, but the confidence that radiates through them. And that confidence, well it can’t be bought and brought to me in a Nordstrom bag, tissue paper spilling over the sides (as much as I try to make it be so).

But learning my own style, and owning my own confidence, when it comes to dressing the actual skin I own seems to be stemming from something deeper, much more complicated. It seems to be an art that includes learning to approve of my body.

It’s an actual practice of celebrating my body.

It’s the ability to fight against hiding it despite what my world says.

Here it really is, as I touch and analyze and beat up my skin: it is an act of showing up confidently and claiming the joy that comes from celebrating my bones.

Shauna Niequist said it well as she described her experience in a pink dress. She writes in I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet, “It seems that in some small way that silly dress brought a moment of lightness to my neighbors, and that’s worth something. It made me think about all the years I kept myself hidden, camouflaged, in neutral colors and the most boring possible things in order not to draw attention to a body I don’t approve of… what if my willingness to be seen, just as I am ... isn’t about me but a freedom I offer to the people around me?... my willingness to show up in full color, in full bloom, one bright spot on a dark day.”

So today it might be the pink dress or it might be the joy of knowing I am uniquely made. It might be the pride I find because I know I’ve moved my body and made decisions that fuel it for good. And it might be providing the forgiveness when I haven’t treated it well and giving myself grace for better days. Regardless, it’s a confidence that can’t be bought.

And maybe it’s not just for you, but maybe showing up as you is how God intended it to be. That your “lightness” would be the light that your neighbor needs. What if you stopped hiding this week? What if you approved of your God-given bones and brought joy and whimsy and smiles to the world? You can. Make this your week. Get the pink dress out and live.