You just got back from your workout at the gym. You look in the mirror and see a sweaty face and tangled hair. You take off your shoes and step onto the dreaded bathroom scale for the fifth time today to make sure you’re on track with your weight loss plan. As you look down at the number, you begin to cry. Not only did you not lose any weight in the last hour, you gained half a pound.

You just got back from a long day at work. You stare blankly at the TV while you eat your leftovers from three nights ago and wonder how much more you can take. You hate your job and dread it every time you walk in the door, but you have a family to feed and bills to pay, so you have no choice but to work three jobs and the night shift every other night.

You just got back from school and you take off your bookbag and hang up your raincoat, drenched because you missed the bus and had to walk home in the thunderstorm. Your parents ask to see your report card. You’re proud of your A’s in History, English, and Science, so you eagerly show them, expecting praises for your hard work. Instead, they see your C in Algebra, and ground you because you “didn’t try hard enough”. They take away your phone for a week and make you do extra chores around the house.

You believe that your efforts will never be enough, but they are.

People put too much pressure on us sometimes. The media tells us that thin is beautiful, but we are God’s masterpieces, flawless and perfect just the way He made us. We break our backs to provide for ourselves and our families, but sometimes we get so caught up in money that we forget that God is the provider of all our needs. We study for hours and put forth our best effort in school, but it is never good enough because we forget that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Your efforts don’t define you. God defines you.

God doesn’t see your flaws and mistakes. He forgives your sins if you choose to accept Him, and accepting Him is the first step in accepting yourself. Out of all the people in the world right now, He sees you. He accepts you. Therefore, you should also accept you.

It’s so much easier to be accepted by God than to be accepted by people. You can’t please everyone, but you can please God every day. Live your life how God defines you, not how people define you. The only one who can define you is the One who created you.