The other day at work I was busy about the office and realized that I hadn't stopped to use the little girls room in awhile and well, it was time. I found some new reading material on the counter and was interested to see what it was. Magazine after magazine filled with fashion advice and advertisements. How could you not want to spend at least 10 minutes of your day reading this stuff? (Don't worry Julie-aka-my boss-I only looked while I went :)
But as I sat flipping through the pages I couldnt believe what I had seen. It's been awhile since I bought these types of magazine but I had no idea just how much they've changed. And I'm talking about Glamour and Cosmo magazine here(just to clarify)!!!!
Almost every page had a half naked or naked woman on it advertising...well, I really couldn't tell you what she was advertising...then the other pages were full of articles on how to get a man, how to have GREAT sex, how to get the PERFECT body, how to have perfect hair, how to lose 20 lbs in 20 days, how to get away with having sex with your frienemies boyfriend....REALLY?
Wow! Are you telling me that THESE are important things? THIS is what life is made up of? Really?
Believe me I completely fall into these traps of thinking that I need to look a certain way, or dress a certain way, or ACT a certain way, or that I NEED to lose 20 lbs to FINALLY get that perfect body.
But girls, let me tell you...these things are all lies. I'm being lied to too! Each day we see articles, billboards, magazines, television commercials telling us that we are not good enough. That because we don't look like "The next top model" that we don't measure up.
Do you ever feel this way?
I do.
A lot.
I find myself comparing myself to women all day long.
The other day we were shopping at Kohl's and this gorgeous, tall, blonde beauty walked by. She was the picture of the world's standards of beauty.
I gazed in jealousy.
As I walked by her I recognized how short I was compared to her lean tall frame.
I felt very un-pretty.
Very un-tall
Very un-perfect
Very...UN-anything
Then I looked behind me at my gorgeous, quirky, adorable daughters who are 8 & 11 and realized that I didn't want them to EVER feel UN-anything. They are worthy, they are perfect, they are lovely. I never want them to feel that the OUT-side even matters AT ALL.
Then I remembered.
I remembered what my Heavenly Father tells me daily. And He wants you to really KNOW this too.
Listen to this...
"For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mothers womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body, all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:13-16
Now that's truth. That's what life is. Life is knowing full well that you were created for HIM, by Him and IN HIM you ARE perfect. That's all that matters.
Now let that truth really soak in girls.
STop buying those magazine to make you think otherwise.
