Are you convinced that only pretty girls are popular? Do you tell yourself you're plain, you'll never have any fun, and no one will ever love you?

It's time you stopped accepting those lies. Nothing can separate you from all the good life has, because God is Life. St. Paul said nothing can separate us from the love of God, not "things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth." ^{Rom. 8:38, 39;} We might add, "Neither long nose, nor dumpy figure, nor mousy hair, nor any other thing is 'able to separate us from the love of God." And the love of God includes us in every right activity—companionship, joy, and purpose.

The Bible says, "So God created man in his own image." ^{Gen. 1:27;} Did you ever realize that the image in a mirror proves a person is present in front of the mirror? The fact that you, the image of God, exist is proof that God is present. You are the very radiance, the showing forth, of God.

Since God is Spirit, incorporeal Life, divine Mind, your material nose or chin is obviously not the image of God. Your real identity is your consciousness of good. You are the individual, spiritual embodiment of every quality of God. And beauty expressed vividly in form and color is found embracing each of those qualities: joy is beautiful, intellignece is beautiful, purity is beautiful.

Maybe you're thinking, "All right, I'm beautiful inside. Now who's going to call me for a date because my intelligence is beautiful?"

What kind of reasoning is behind a question like that? It comes from believing we are each two different beings—that we are spiritual inside and material outside. But there's only one you.

Look up for a minute and imagine a white horse standing there. Now pretend you're putting on green sunglasses—what do you see? A green horse! Are there two horses—green and white? There's one white horse who's been standing there untouched all the time. You simply viewed him through a green lens and were convinced he was green.

There's only one you—completely spiritual, expressing every beautiful quality of God—who's been there untouched all the time. But you may have been viewing yourself through a material lens, convinced you were an ugly (or pretty) mortal and therefore acting like that mortal.

What do you need to know to remove that lens? Mrs. Eddy tells it in Science and Health: "Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light." ^{Science and Health, p. 516;}

You might begin by recognizing that Love itself created you, that you are therefore completely spiritual—loving, lovable, lovely. Expressing the first of those helps bring forth the other two. It is unselfish loving that does the work. This whole thing of being ugly or plain is just part of that basic lie that man is material. We can't let our thought focus on matter. Look what Science and Health points out: "It is ignorance and false belief, based on a material sense of things, which hide spiritual beauty and goodness." ^{ibid., p. 304;} Who wants to hide beauty?

Have you spent as many hours as I used to in front of the mirror in self-pity and complaining? Remember, it's Love with its fragrance of unselfishness that makes things beautiful. Centering thought on ourselves keeps us from appreciating and enjoying the beauty and good around us by emphasizing all the things we think we don't have. How much better to spend those hours in unselfishly reaching out in love to others, or in developing talents to share with others, completing tasks, pursuing the intelligent adventure? When you're truly loving, then you're lovable. And, inevitably, lovely.

You could begin each day with the recognition that you are created by Love, and therefore created lovely, and continue with reaching in prayer for a better understanding of all the other synonyms for your creator—Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Truth, and Life. As you understand God better, you'll understand yourself and be better able to express those qualities that comprise your beauty.

For instance, a clearer sense of yourself as Mind's creation will enable you to more intelligently select clothes that express your own qualities rather than just following the latest fad. As you see yourself as the very expression of Principle, you will naturally bring out order and self-control rather than sloppiness or gluttony. As you realize the lively nature of your being as Life's idea, you'll enjoy the natural exercise of joyous, purposeful activity. Living your day-in and day-out life from the basis of Spirit as the only substance, the only power, the only source of action, the only intelligence, you will see all needed adjustments taking place—normal bodily functions, normal growth, everything in perfect order.

I've proved many times the truth of this sentence in Science and Health: "Comeliness and grace are independent of matter." ^{ibid., p. 247.} Sometimes the proof has come by a hairdo falling nicely into place or skin blemishes disappearing as I've quit fussing with my material body and understood that beauty is independent of matter. Sometimes the proof has come by people commenting honestly on how lovely I've looked when actually nothing physical was any different.

There are so many inspiring ideas in pages 245 to 248 of Science and Health that I've almost thought of these as "beauty pages"! Studying them has given me a sense of beauty that isn't skin-deep.

Through every experience I've proved that the freedom and satisfaction in life are already part of our being—we don't have to get them; as children of God, we already include them. We find these qualities as we reach out to others in love—as we appreciate, rather than envy, every evidence of beauty around us. Then we'll find we're beautiful.