Is it acceptable to pray for something superficial?

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In my heart of hearts, I want to be more physically attractive. Some of my unattractiveness I’ve brought on myself, some not.
I do pray for serious problems that other people have, with sincerity, If a God is seeing into my heart, though, he knows of my vanity and envy of others who are physically attractive. Should I pray to not be so vain, instead?
 
You say that you have brought some of the unattractiveness upon yourself. It seems it would be within your power to correct those things, some more easily than others. If the corrections are difficult (like losing weight, for example), you could certainly pray for God to help you with that, as it also involves good stewardship of your body.

Once you’ve done what you can to improve your looks, then it’s probably time to work on your vanity if you’re still not satisfied. And that certainly is a proper object for prayer.

Betsy
 
Pray that God will give you the grace to take care of your body (His temple) so that you will be as physically healthy as He wants you to be.

And pray that you will exude Christ’s joy to others so that you will attract others to HIM. When you radiate His joy and confidence, that cannot help but make you more attractive as well.

All for God!
 
Some of what we go through in life is as you have stated “self inflicted” and it is these things that some where along the line of life God has been calling you to not inflict but in our humanness we don’t want to hear, (cause and effect).
You may remember that Jesus spoke about those who were Lilly white on the outside but in the inside were nothing but bones.
I don’t think you would want to be as they were and so I offer you, just pray ask Jesus to forgive your past, forgive vanity, and ask Him to give you a “simple mind for loving Him”.

He will hear that.

Godbless
 
I’ve heard people pray for someone to win a ball game…you can’t get more superficial than that

I would pray to become happy about the person God made you to be…if you are worried about being superficial chances are you ain’t!
 
A few months ago, I stumbled upon a quote by Archbishop Fulton Sheen that really resonated within me…with all my insecurities and awkwardness. 😊 He said:

“Beauty on the outside never gets into the soul, but beauty of the soul reflects itself on the face”.

I’m far from physical or spiritual beauty, but I can’t get this quote out of my head…and I’m praying that each day, Jesus’ light will shine through me just a little bit more.

Taking good care of your body, even getting a new haircut or outfit, might make you feel better about yourself. But try to take the Archbishop’s words to heart…hopefully they’ll bring you inner peace.
 
You’re already received some wise replies. Just read and listen to them. None of us are perfectly beautiful on the outside - no matter pretty or handsome we may appear. Think first of the beauty of your soul - Physically, deal/work with what God gave you. Don’t overdo. Stop worrying about the rest.
God bless.
 
i was specific…I once liked a girl I could not have.
So, latter, when i got married we had 5 children and my wife told me she wanted the last one(boy) named after me. I refused this not wanting people named after me, but she told me she wanted the names to be so and so,… After thinking about it I agreed and on signing the papers i had my eyes opened to the realization that the baby was named after me, our fifth and third boy fulfilling my desire for 5 children, two girls 3 boys .

At 18yrs I had said to Jesus "Lord if I am to get married I want a girl whose name is (the same as the one I couldn’t have) her birthday near mine, I wanted 5 children 3 boys 2 girls. one named after me, (as I mentioned earlier this happened). The woman had to be… and I was specific… age, color, birth date etc.
I got all… and I mean all of what I asked for +,… and when my wife was four months expecting our forth child, she told me that Jesus had appeared to her in a dream. He told her that the child was going to be a boy and that He would be honored if we would call him “Milanian” after a friend of His ( not an apostle). After he was born we were told by a priest it ment “a man blessed for ever”.

All this may seem very good to you but there came much suffering for our family, My wife went away from the Lord into radical woman’s lib, our first daughter was murderderd, our marrage broke up, daughters boyfriend hung himself in front of three children, loss of house, and very much more.

Well do you want to ask for your will to be , ? See why I hope that you ask that God’s will be done. There are consequences to asking for our will.

Godbless
 
I pray for just about everything. When I drive, I pray to be a good driver. When I play games, even computer games, I pray that I will win.

One of the only times I’ve ever played Poker–with a group of men at church–I had a “could be good” hand that, if I didn’t get just the right card, would have been nothing. I prayed to St. Anthony, got the card I wanted, won a huge “pot,” and then gave the credit to St. Anthony. It was a bit of witness to a bunch of Middle-Aged Catholic guys who weren’t even quite at the “pray to St. Anthony” level of Catholicism.

You never know.

Fr. Pacwa gave a great homily on this a few weeks ago: when you pray to “win the lottery,” for example, you’re really praying for better financial security. So you may pray to “win the lottery,” but, instead, God sends you a better job or an unexpected financial gift, “bank error in your favor,” etc.

And remember the Wedding at Cana: there could be nothing more superficial than praying for the ability to get more drunk.
 
Be careful what you pray for. God will grant whatever your heart desires. But if your hearts desire is for success in this world, you may be giving up infinitely more in the next.

You can be rich and successful now, but you may be sorry in the next. I always qualify my prayers with a proviso that whatever God grants will not be detrimental to my spiritual heatlh.

It may seem strange but some folks are willing to forego success in the next world or salvation for riches, fame or glory in this world. I take seriously Christ’s warning, woe to the rich for you have your reward.

Some of these protestant preachers make me cringe when they tell their listeners to ask God to make them rich or famous.

I have prayed for some frivolous items, though… success for my bowling team… we came in first in spectacular fashion… meeting my spouse which has turned out well (for the most part LOL 😉 … a sunny day for our wedding day (it was sunny for one weekend in summer of '74 - on our wedding day), healthy kids - we have 3

Now, I’m a little more selective and serious with my prayers. But I always add in the provision that whatever I ask for be in line with
my long term spiritual health. Of course I’m confident that God will not grant anything that is detrimental to me. But just in case I ask for something stupid or crazy…
 
Wow, LittleOne, that’s quite a story. Best wishes to you and yours. Be careful what you wish for, huh?
 
Physical beauty is temporary and may be attractive at first but can be very fleeting at best. There is so much more to a person than mere looks. A sense of humor, a kind heart, intelligence or common sense, wisdom and a cheerful disposition will outlast looks for a life time.

Some of the nicest people are not endowed with great physical attributes.

It is not always the case but it often seems the case that some of the prettiest folks have really awful personalities or can be very superficial or just plain mean.

Who wants to live with great beauty, if they are deceitful, petty or argumentative ? Who wants a beautiful spouse if they are not faithful or have a nasty dispostion and manage to make your life miserable ?

Develop a sense of humor, be cheerful, practice charity, be humble and kind, and you will be a catch for anyone. Nice guys are tough to find, and nice gals are probably the ones to notice them first, even if they don’t physically look like Prince Charming.

One of the problems with tall, dark, and handsome is that sometimes their other attributes are sorely lacking.
 
Hoosier said:
Wow, LittleOne, that’s quite a story. Best wishes to you and yours. Be careful what you wish for, huh?
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Your so right and it is as Jesus tells us ask and though shell receive…but be careful because leave one part out and it may floor your hopes. You recon?
Godbless
 
Hoosier said:
In my heart of hearts, I want to be more physically attractive. Some of my unattractiveness I’ve brought on myself, some not.
I do pray for serious problems that other people have, with sincerity, If a God is seeing into my heart, though, he knows of my vanity and envy of others who are physically attractive. Should I pray to not be so vain, instead?
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Thanks to God for how we look! He knows what best for us.

At some point, you need to spend time with God and ask God to help you see how He sees you. Through this, you might realize how precious and beautiful you are in God’s eyes. The meaning beauty to God is different from most of what we have.

At the same time, you may also realize the benefit of your current looks. Remember that God knows what is best for us. Perhaps, when you are attractive, God knows you will be using this attraction for the wrong reason?

If you are envy of other physical attraction, then perhaps you should look at what God has given to you that the others don’t have.
 
I really try not to pray for superficial things. I try to keep in mind, if I were actually in the presence of God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, and indeed our entire universe, what would I really ask for?

Usually the superficial things are not at the top of that list.

I like what PhilotheaZ said, though, and also wcknight.
 
Definitely pray for the grace to not be vain

totustuus.com/overcome.htm

is a good read on conquering your root sin.

good advice someone once gave me: when tempted, offer that temptation for the conversion of sinners. Also, you should consider praying in a particular way for those who suffer with a disfiguring condition.

On the flip side, I sometimes feel sorry for really pretty people–esp. girls. I know that they will have guys coming on to them all the time. They will be tempted to put their self confidence in their looks. They will have to wonder if people are attracted to them because of their looks. And, they will have the same temptations to vanity…
 
I thank everybody who took the time to reply to this post. I’ve tried to hard to have faith and accept Christ as my saviour. It’s very hard to hear “seek and you shall find,” “ask and you shall receive,” and not think “umm…when?”
I know there are people with such worse problems than being unattractive and alone. I’m not that stupid and shallow. I just see so much what could have been.
 
Hoosier said:
I thank everybody who took the time to reply to this post. I’ve tried to hard to have faith and accept Christ as my saviour. It’s very hard to hear “seek and you shall find,” “ask and you shall receive,” and not think “umm…when?”
I know there are people with such worse problems than being unattractive and alone. I’m not that stupid and shallow. I just see so much what could have been.
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I am not stupid but if you wish could you please explain what you wrote so I might gain understanding? It could help me in my walk.
Thanks
Godbless
 
Little One, I meant that I realize “I wanna be pretty!” is a shallow wish compared to the prayers of people who have serious illness, are losing their homes, etc. I’m also struggling to have faith and accept what God gave me. I feel that if I’d been more attractive I would have had more love and possibly had children. I’m trying not to be bitter about that. Trying to not be bitter in general. Thanks for listening.
 
Hoosier said:
Little One, I meant that I realize “I wanna be pretty!” is a shallow wish compared to the prayers of people who have serious illness, are losing their homes, etc. I’m also struggling to have faith and accept what God gave me. I feel that if I’d been more attractive I would have had more love and possibly had children. I’m trying not to be bitter about that. Trying to not be bitter in general. Thanks for listening.
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**Guess we might all think that way from time to time. I never had the comfort or acceptance in my mind of thinking that I was ever handsome, but I think that it is in being handsome or pretty in our heart that counts. Through an accident when I was young and meningitis I never thought I would have a chance to marry. I gave it all up to God and said "God! if You want i will be a priest, monk, single, or be married. If I marry then I would like the woman to be… and I would like this many children… etc etc, Well God heard and at 22 I married had the allotted amount of children and etc.

Still I never thought I was handsome people would put me down leave me out but the one thing they could NEVER do was to take from me the love God has given me and I went through hell at times in the human seance but still I would smile and they started asking “why do you always smile”?
Do you know what I mean? As a teenager it was hard to not be in the "in " group, Iwalked alone much of the time.
But God loves me that I can never let go of, even when others don’t seem to care. **

God loves you and that never leaves, even though in groups may try to make you not believe that.
You are pretty and your heat is loving the rest is by smiling and being happy and others will see your real loving self. Deep within you not superficial.

Godbless
 
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