I was driving into work this morning with my iPod on shuffle, and one of my favorite songs came on, one that I hadn’t heard in quite some time. The song? “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera.
Now, normally I’m not really one for mainstream music, but the reason I love this song is not only because I think it has an important message, but because of the personal connection I have with it. That connection is today’s inspiration – a personal story.
When I was in college I had the wonderful opportunity to go on a couple of life-changing mission trips. My very first trip was to Knoxville, TN. I traveled there with 10 other amazing women, and we spent the week working at a wonderful agency that helped pregnant teens who had escaped violence and abuse – a place that was helping them heal.
It’s funny though – the thing about mission trips is you go on them prepared to help others, to serve them and to change their lives. And although we did that, those young ladies there changed mine more.
On one of the nights, the agency held a talent show for the girls – a lot of them really loved music, and wanted to be able to share this love with us. And they asked that we would participate too. And we did. As a team we did a really cute number to “RESPECT.” But, it was what I had the pleasure of doing with a fellow mission trip team member that I will never forget. Since both of us were singers, we wanted to sing a song for the girls, but not just any song – one that meant something. At that time, “Beautiful” was just released, so we knew the girls would probably know it, but more importantly, we wanted to tell them that they were beautiful – no matter what anyone said.
I will never forget that moment. We sang it a cappella, just simple. We wanted the lyrics to shine through. It was one of the most touching moments – you could see on these girls faces that some of them had never heard that before, but in that moment they believed. It had nothing to do with our singing, it was the fact that they were realizing that they were beautiful individuals and deserved to be loved.
Afterward, several of them came up to us and shared their stories. And although I won’t go into detail of their stories, I can tell you that those young ladies (some just barley 13) had gone through hell and back, but were still smiling. It was those smiles, the hope and inspiration in their eyes that forever changed me. They touched a deep part of my heart. I don’t think they will ever know just how much they changed me – I am forever grateful that I met them.
So today, as I’m reminded of these young women, I share with you the same message. No matter what others say, what you’ve been through, where you’ve been, male, female, young, old – you are beautiful. Believe that.