Seeking Divine Beauty
Kate Wicker's Weightless is a Must-Read
by Rachel Balducci
in Reviews
on Wednesday, October 05, 2011 12:00 PM
In Weightless: Making Peace with Your Body, Kate Wicker shares her life-long struggle with body image, how she learned to overcome the distorted truth and see her beauty and worth from the source that matters most: the eyes of God.
This book is a must-read for all women, not just those who have struggled with an eating disorder or an unrealistic quest for perfection. It’s for the woman who is tempted to compare herself to the airbrushed images in a fashion magazine. It’s for the woman who feels inadequate every time she dons a bathing suit. And it’s absolutely for women with daughters—this book is an arsenal of information that just might help young readers side-step these same dangerous temptations to compare.
One overriding theme of the book is the importance of looking to the right sources for inspiration. Instead of comparing herself to the too-skinny actresses in today’s popular shows, Kate learned to look to the Saints. She reminds us to do the same, to spend energy improving in the areas where it really counts—in virtue and strength.
Beyond the saints, we must set our sights on examples of true beauty, women who deserve our admiration not because of their outwardly appearance but because of their soul and how it radiates Christ. The book encourages readers to look for such sources of inspiration, to consider the women you find beautiful—inside and out—and take note of what makes them beautiful.
The book also offers practical tips, like how to have a healthy relationship with food (“We forget what we knew instinctively as a child: to eat when we’re hungry and to stop before we’re uncomfortably full.”), and how to age gracefully (“Spend time with your mother, grandmothers, or other older women you know and respect.”). Each book chapter ends with a meditation and several topics for reflection.
As the mother of three girls, Kate writes about her desires for her daughters, how she hopes they never get caught up in quest for perfection that doesn’t exist. Her goal is to raise healthy women who seek “divine beauty.” That’s one of the best parenting tips I’ve heard.
Perhaps the most inspiring aspect of the book to me was the emphasis of defining beauty—and accepting that you are beautiful. Kate writes of a moment when she truly felt beautiful, out for a walk at the beach with her young children. She realized that at that moment she didn’t necessarily meet the criteria for “perfect” or “glamorous.” But she felt good in her own skin, and that made her beautiful.
That message is the heart of this book: the importance of each girl and woman to recognize that she is beautiful—and that there is no cookie-cutter mold for what that means. Being beautiful isn’t about how you look, but how you feel. And when you feel at peace with who God made you to be, when you are embracing your life and loving it, then you are beautiful.
And it shows.
— Faith & Family Live blogger Rachel Balducci also blogs at Testosterhome.
Resource: Weightless: Making Peace With Your Body
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