Fun in the Sun...

I just got back from sunny Florida where temperatures were a hot 90 degrees each day. I love the sun. I find joy closing my eyes and soaking it all it. Before leaving for vacation I had made an appointment with a dermatologist to take a look at a few moles on my body that I thought were of some concern. Turns out that they were of no concern at all, but she did tell me that my wearing 5o sunscreen did nothing for me at all-my Italian blood still tanned a little. She told me that the body's defense mechanism is to tan to let you know that you need to get out of the sun! Kind of like when you get goose bumps when your cold. Crazy! I thought it was just a fun way of expressing to everyone that I just got back from vacation. :)

Yes, I know that coming back tan is fun and it gives your skin such a fresh sun-kissed look but I think I need to reconsider my thoughts. I don't want cancer, I don't want my kids to get skin damage at a young age. So you'll be seeing me with hats, sunglasses, and fully covered at the beach to protect the skin that God gave me.

On that same note, (sorry not a great segway), as we were in the sunny state of Florida I noticed a lot about women.

One being that women love to compare themselves to other women. I'm guilty too. Very guilty. In fact, my hubby actually caught me in the act of comparing. Yep, he did. After we returned he asked me about it. I didn't remember the particular situation he was talking about (well, because I was doing ALOT of comparing-yikes). I go around speaking to young women about self image and here I was comparing myself to other women wondering why I was so weirdly shaped, or why my hair was so frizzy during hot temperatures, or why my face looked so blahhhh.....(I had time to think about these things while standing in line at Disneyworld and looking around at the half dressed girls around me).

So here's the question. How can we as women stop this? We are only hurting ourselves. I am a confident person & I'm pretty comfortable in my own skin(generally). But I STILL do this and it still hurts my heart. I've talked with lots of women (beautiful and ordinary) and they all tell me the same thing. They ALL struggle with it. Even gorgeous models who you'd think are perfect struggle with this.
Can't we just be happy with who we are and stop comparing ourselves to others?
I want this. I want this for my two daughters.
I want my INside to be so radiant that others want to know what it is that makes me that way. I want to focus on my Inward beauty more often than my outward beauty.
Yes, it is important to take good care of ourselves. Eat right, exercise...but spending too much time in front of the mirror and comparing our outward selves to others is so not good for our hearts.

I once heard a mom say, "take time to make yourself look pleasing, but as soon as you walk out the door focus on others"

I love this.

If our focus is on loving others and not comparing ourselves with others, I think our hearts begin to become so radiant that it makes our OUTside radiant too.

"Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others." I Corin. 10:24