That girl in the mirror

This post has been a long time coming.  I think I can speak for most women when I say that our body image is a pretty big deal. Such a big deal that it can lead us to starve ourselves to drop a few pounds, workout twice a day, count calories, take diet pills....all things I have done at some point in my life. I am happy to say that I am now so much healthier mentally, spiritually and physically and don't go to extremes to lose weight but that pesky body image still rears it's ugly head at times.

I came home to my parents house this weekend and found this lovely treasure in a box in my old closet:

Yes, you are reading that right...the brand is "One Tuff Babe". :)

So many things about this picture crack me up but it also got me thinking. First, isn't it interesting that we will move heaven and earth to make sure we have the latest and greatest styles and wardrobes only to pull those pieces out later and say " what was I thinking?!"  It really reminds me of the verse in Ecclesiastes 4:4 that says "Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless-like chasing the wind".  Am I saying we all need to quit buying clothes and not dress nice?  No, I am just saying we might stop every now and then and examine our hearts to make sure we aren't worshipping the clothes more than God.

The second thing about this picture that I noticed is the passing thought I had of "I have no make-up on and my hair is not fixed...do I share it?"  I tell you this to be transparent.  Why?  Because I think as women we are way too hard on ourselves and if we aren't careful can worship our appearance more than we worship our King.  I want to start a new trend that instead of trying to strive to be like the girl who has every hair in place, 0% body fat, a golden tan and more we strive to be like the woman who has all the fruits of the spirit pouring out of her.  Being physically attractive is not wrong I just want to make sure my heart is in the right place before I allow myself to pursue that. When our heart is in the right place with God everything else falls into place. I know personally this is true because the closer I get to The Lord the easier it is to take care of my body and my physical appearance gets in alignment with my spiritual appearance.

Just a few days I was talking with a friend about this and a statement her husband had made to her was "when will enough be enough?" in reference to how she feels about the way her body looks.  I think this is a question we should all ask ourselves. 

When is enough, enough?  Ask God to help you embrace who you are and what he created you to look like. As you do he will bring peace that only he can bring. As you give this area of your life to him he will bring spiritual and physical changes that only he can bring.