Mirror Image

a biblical reframing of our self-perception and view of beauty

By: Cameron Pien

This article is part of the Claritas spring 2025 issue, Connection. Read the full print release here.

At 8:30 a.m., the notes of my alarm comprise the show’s prelude. It’s time to perform—my audience is waiting, and they are merciless. As I pull on jeans and a sweater, I ensure that each fold of my costume falls perfectly. Like every ballerina, I learned how to do stage makeup at the age of six, so I step towards my mirror, tally every blemish, and wield my concealer wand with foolish half-belief in its magical powers. Okay, showtime. I swing open the door of my room with bravado, prepared to face my peers. It’s a good act, but I learned too late that life was never meant to be a performance. 

On mornings when I feel the most desperately insecure, I attempt to perfect my appearance, as if I can somehow conceal the grotesque inner shame, guilt, and sin that make me recoil from myself. Instead of alleviating my self-deprecating thoughts, seeking external validation only reinforces my self-hatred. I’m chained to the belief that I must enhance my heart and body in order to attract meaningful connections—and I’m not alone.

In 2023, doctors performed 6.2 million cosmetic surgeries in the United States. [1] The beauty industry is currently worth a staggering $600 billion, a fortune constructed on the exploitation of insecurities. [2] Online and offline, we’re bombarded by messages about how we should appear from Instagram filters and toned models watching us from their vantage point on magazine covers. Yet even the very celebrities touted as paragons of conventional beauty often express despondent dissatisfaction. Olivia Rodrigo writes, “I could change up my body and change up my face, I could try every lipstick in every shade, but I’d always feel the same, cause pretty isn’t pretty enough.” [3] When I sang these lyrics at Rodrigo’s GUTS tour, I was deeply disconcerted by the realization that all 17,000 girls in Kia Forum were screaming these lines too. In the process of searching for our identities amid the constant physical changes and societal pressures of young adulthood, every single one of us resonated with the hollow, devouring ache of staring in the mirror and hating what we saw. 

 Keeping up with every fashion, makeup, diet, and workout trend is exhausting, and contorting ourselves to fit an ever-evolving mold leads to despair rather than confidence. Rodrigo is correct when she laments that “pretty isn’t pretty enough,” because “enough” is a moving target. Until the 18th century, artists portrayed the ideal woman as curvaceous, yet in the early 20th century, society shifted to praising slim builds, triggering a precipitous increase in eating disorders. [4] The capricious nature of beauty standards leads us to view beauty as an elusive attribute that we must fight to acquire and our bodies as enemies that we must subjugate. This mindset begets vanity, anxiety, self-absorption, discontentment, and envy, and can lead to self-harm, in which we destroy the very being we originally set out to benefit. 

Perhaps we can redeem our pursuit of beauty by returning to the God who is beauty. Struggles with body image and insecurities are often lifelong, individualized, and nuanced, and I won’t pretend to promise a simple remedy. Yet we can begin by learning to see ourselves as He sees us, instead of through the objectifying lens of a social media filter or a television screen. We’re not beautiful because we can fit into a certain clothing size but because, like a spring flower or my grandmother’s smile, we reflect the essence of God. For a human artist, no brushstroke, chord, or dance step is an accident. We are His handiwork, and how much more precision and intentionality did the perfect Creator exercise when He crafted us? In Liturgy of the Ordinary, Tish Harrison Warren writes, “When we denigrate our bodies—whether through neglect or staring at our faces and counting up our flaws—we are belittling a sacred site, a worship space more wondrous than the most glorious, ancient cathedral. We are standing before the Grand Canyon or the Sistine Chapel and rolling our eyes.” [5] Beauty is a quality He has given us by virtue of being made in His image, not one we need to earn or prove. 

As God reveals His perfect character to us, we realize that our hearts are ragged, distorted portraits of His holiness, for sin corrupts our ability to see God, others, and ourselves truthfully. However, as we pursue a relationship with Him, He continually restores us to depict His righteousness. Becoming better image bearers of God leads us to refocus on Him instead of ourselves and allow His beauty to manifest itself in us. We often view beauty as an external transformation instead of an internal one, yet although “man looks at the outward appearance…the Lord looks at the heart.” [6] 1 Peter 3:3-4 reads, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” [7] We can redirect the effort we expend on the pursuit of external attractiveness towards praying for the eternal purification of our hearts. Through spending time in Scripture, in prayer, and with the Church, we can seek the refinement of our souls instead of our perishable bodies. 

A godly view of beauty also reframes human relationships. When we rest in our ultimate connection with God in which we are truly and intimately seen, we are set free to form connections with other people that aren’t transactional or tainted with envy. When we measure our worth by physical attractiveness or romantic attention, we inevitably view other people as sources of or competition for the limited resource of validation. Envy kills our ability to love, but when we realize that we’re all equally made in the image of God, we can identify and affirm the beauty in everyone. Anything admirable in other people is a reflection of their Creator in the midst of this fallen world. I give random compliments whenever I have the opportunity, whether it’s to the barista at Libe Cafe with the infectious laugh, or the girl next to me in the elevator with a seashell necklace. It’s a way of saying, “I see a reflection of your Creator in you, and it is good.” 

Despite my attempts to reframe my beliefs about beauty, my battle with insecurity continues. Occasionally, I lapse into viewing my body as limiting and insufficient, just as I did when I couldn’t jump high enough or point my feet in a perfect line as a young ballerina. I still struggle with seeing my appearance as a way to gain affirmation: I sometimes believe that if I weighed less or had a slimmer face, I would receive the attention my ego craves. Yet when I wake up and see the mirror as an enemy, I remind myself that every part of me that I label a failure or exploit to fuel my pride was made by God to serve Him and not myself. Our hands and arms embrace others. Our feet and legs carry us to the places God has called us to minister. Our mouths speak His gospel, and our eyes delight in the splendor of His creation. The bodies that we too often curse or idolize are His dwelling places and instruments. 

At 8:30 a.m., the notes of my alarm comprise a song of praise. It’s time to tell His story—my audience is waiting, and they need to see Him. I roll out of bed, asking Him to clothe me with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Like every believer, I’m learning to be transparent about my imperfections, for His power is made perfect in weakness. As I step towards my mirror and am tempted to scan my skin for every blemish, I ask for His help to see myself as He sees me. Okay, send me out, God. I swing open the door of my room, ready to reflect my beautiful Creator.

Sources

[1] Kestenbaum, Richard. 2024. “The Beauty Business Keeps Growing But It’s Missing A Huge Opportunity.” Forbes, June 27, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardkestenbaum/2024/06/

27/the-beauty-business-keeps-growing-but-its-missing-a-huge-opportunity/

[2] ISAPS. “Countries with the highest total number of surgical and non-surgical cosmetic procedures in 2023.” Chart. June 3, 2024. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/293356/

leading-countries-by-total-number-of-cosmetic-procedures/

[3] Rodrigo, Olivia. “pretty isn’t pretty.” Track 11 on GUTS. Geffen Records, 2023.  

[4] Howard, Jacqueline. 2018. “The history of the ‘ideal’ woman and where that has left us.” CNN, March 9, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/07/health/body-image-history-of-beauty-

explainer-intl/index.html

[5] Warren, Tish Harrison, Liturgy of the Ordinary, 2016. 

[6] 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV) 

[7] 1 Peter 3:3-4 (NIV)