We had just finished healing harbor last night. I was feeling spiritually fulfilled that we had been able to provide healing to so many people. At the same time, I was physically exhausted, my body ached from the rain, my eyes itched from my allergies, and every cell in my being just wanted to crawl into bed. It had been a marvelous and enriching day and then one of my healing staff said something, which just made the whole day a little brighter. “I really like your hair like that.” All I could do was take a deep breath and say “thank you.” The funny thing was that I have wanted to shave it all off again, but Zoe has been encouraging me to let it grow.
I had to stop for a moment and think about why I had to breathe first. Then it hit me, that it was her compliment and the look in Zoe’s eyes that had reminded me that what makes us beautiful is not a number on the scale which says you are the ideal weight or you are underweight, overweight, or as my medical records say, morbidly obese. What makes us beautiful is who we are in this world.
I was having a conversation with one of my spiritual partnership clients one day. At the end of our conversation, she said, “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever met.” At 350 lbs., this is not something I hear everyday. I remember asking her what made her see me that way. The look on her face was priceless. “Seriously? You are the most amazing soul. You are the most beautiful human being I have ever met.”
It is moments like that, which remind me how easy it is for those of us who are not the “ideal weight” to buy into the notion that we are not beautiful because of what a scale says. The reality, however, is that we are more then a number on a scale. When I step on a scale at the doctor’s office, all it tells me is a number. It does not tell me anything more then that. It does not tell me about my capacity for life. It does not measure my happiness. It does not measure the feeling my friends and clients have when they walk into the spiritual space my wife and I have created.
I have never gotten on a scale and had it say, “I really like your hair like that.” I have never gotten on a scale and had it say, “Thanks for taking the time to listen to me and showing me compassion.” I have never gotten on a scale and had it pray with me in a time of need or encourage me to persevere when I was going through a challenging time in life. I have never gotten on a scale and had it say thank you.
We live in a time when others may say or do things in an attempt to make one feel as if they are more or less worthy in the world based on a number a machine gives you. So remember this. You are more then just a number. You are more then you evaluate yourself to be. You are the beauty, which flows, from your soul. You are the gifts the Infinite Presence blessed you with. You are who you were created to be and are in the process of becoming. You are the life force, which flows out of and through you. You are the strength, grace, mercy, wisdom, and compassion you demonstrate and share with others. You are the one who was created by love, in the image of love, to be and share love with all other reflections of love in the world.
If you need to weigh something in your life, weigh the love that you produce in the world each day. Weight the love you have for yourself. You are not a number on a scale; you are more then any scale can ever measure.