Beauty...

As a father looking at this clip, I am so afraid for my little girl. As she grows up she is being thrust into a world that demands she fit certain criteria. In fact, right now girls as young as 8 are beginning diet plans and moving into the scary world of eating disorders. Why? Simple, they want to look like the girl on the cover of the magazine and billboard, the girl on the web who is "perfect." But, as this clip so eloquently illustrates it is not attainable beauty. Instead, our girls are being held up to a mirror that displays an airbrushed, computer adjusted beauty. Before, girls were just trying to look like Barbie. Now they have to look BETTER than Barbie. It's an impossible standard! Not only that, but the majority of teenage girls are being taught (and are thinking!) that their number one reason for being is to be "sexy." This is a downward spiral that will not stop until we adjust the standards they see!
Fortunately, Jesus says we are made the way He designed us to be. That is an extraordinarily comforting thought. Yes, being obese and overweight is not good (not that I have any room to talk, I am unhealthy because of what I eat), but teaching young girls that they should fit a certain body type is wrong. Each of us has a unique body made by God to be who we are. So, instead of trying to fit girls into a certain body type and image, we need to reinforce their God given body type and the image He made them in. If we can show girls that their beauty isn't determined by an outside source but by their Creator, it opens so many doors! This isn't something that is optional, but something essential that absolutely must be taught to the girls of this coming generation. If we are negligent and let them continue to see themselves as only worth what they "should" look like, there will be lasting consequences. We're only beginning to see the consequences of unchecked image and over sexualization in teen girls now, what that will look like later depends on us. I know what I'm teaching and it's about God's image that we are made in. Our worth comes from Him, not how the world sees us and categorizes us....