When Are We Good Enough?

This is something I have been thinking about over the past few weeks.  And not only when are we good enough, but the power of those words as we raise future generations.   Because then.   Then.   They become extremely powerful and weighty words. I’m too fat. I look so old. I have too many wrinkles. Look at my grey hair. I’m not pretty. I look terrible in these clothes. Don’t photograph me, I don’t want to see what I look like. These statements?  They have always killed me.  Even before I was a photographer.  Because the photographs aren’t all about you.   And the photographs aren’t all for you.   The photographs are other peoples’ memories, too. The truth is, none of us are getting any younger.  And many of us aren’t getting any skinnier.  Or less wrinkled or grey.   The truth is.  You are good enough.  Just as you are. In the eyes of someone who loves us, for who we are on the inside, those exterior superficialities (yes, I make up words for the situation) don’t matter so much.  Through children’s eyes, it matters even less because they’re not old enough to have learned such horrible self shame or understand the pain that prompts those words in the first place.  And so I pray, that as my husband and I raise our own children, that they will grow up loving themselves deeply enough to know that they are good enough.   For themselves.  For their future spouses.  For their family and friends. There is truth in this video below, too.  Take a watch and let me know what you think. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iswiKQbtwXQ]