Embracing Beauty

I saw two things about beauty this week that made me stop and think. 

First, I read about a model and former Miss Argentina who, at 37 years old, died from complications of plastic surgery.  She was having a "simple" procedure done to surgically re-shape her back side. 

Really? 

Then a friend passed along information about an event happening at a Milwaukee church.  The event is part of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty.  It is open to all women and girls ages 7 and up and will celebrate and explore the idea of individual beauty. 

Talk about different ends of the spectrum.

I find myself thinking about self image a lot.  Not my own, but that of my three daughters and son.  I want them to feel good about themselves and know that they are each beautiful, unique people.  At the same time, I don't want them to be focused on the physical.  They'll feel the glare of that microscope soon enough.  I want them to know that who they are is so much more than how they look. 

My third grader recently told me about her classmate who is on a diet so she will look better in her dance costume.  I assured her that the girl's mother would put a stop to that.  Wrong.  Apparently, her mom actually is packing "diet" food for this scrawny, little eight year old. 

Really?

I was at a party a few years ago where some of the women were talking about how much money each had set aside in a plastic surgery fund. 

Really?

I guess they are saving for a saggy day.  My fund is empty.  Frankly, I'm not very concerned about the signs of aging.  I love to look at a person's hands and face and see all the lines of a life well-lived.  I hope I laugh so often and so hard that the smile etches itself on my face.  My great grandmother, who had eleven children and raised four granchildren when their young mother died of cancer, had soft folds of wrinkles around her incredibly kind eyes and paper thin skin, freckled with age spots when she died at 100.  Imagine all those eyes saw in her one hundred years. 

Beautiful.

I get how easy it is to get caught up in the physical side of beauty.  I have a wicked sweet tooth and I've had four babies so you get the picture.  Still, I just don't know how things have gotten so out of hand with our quest for physical perfection.  I worry about where it will end. 

Maybe it ends at a church in Milwaukee, where women and girls are having an open discussion about true beauty. 

Maybe it ends when we look in the mirror and embrace what we see. 

Maybe it ends when we start to look people in the eye and tell them how lovely they are and how much beauty they bring to our lives.

Maybe it ends when we recognize that we are the work of the same great God that made every beautiful thing that graces the Earth.  The God that paints the sunrise and colors autumn and adds sparkle to the stars.  A God who knows everything about us and still sees us as beautiful.  A God who loves us and finds great joy when we love ourselves and each other.

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornement, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

- 1 Peter 3:2-5