Yesterday, my family was watching Nuestra Bellesa Latina, it’s a beauty
pageant series on Univision. During the
bathing suit competition the judges asked the contestants ridiculous questions
and after a few girls took their turns answering on the spot questions my
seven-year-old nephew confidently blurted, “my Auntie Penny would totally win
this competition because she’s the smartest girl I know.” His innocent view of the world placed me
above all the size zero, surgically enhanced, over the top hair extension &
made-up women of Latin America (smile).
His genuine statement had my family laughing and me pondering at what
age do we lose that childlike wisdom? He
hasn’t been corrupted by society’s distorted view of beauty instead he
perceives the world through eyes of purity and goodness. To him, I am the most intelligent girl (who
based on my brains can win Miss Latin-America) because he looks at me as God
does through eyes of truth and love. Of
course, I first had to answer how tall
lady liberty is in feet to get his complete trust in me (smile).
Gap Summer Dress & Espadrille Wedges
Yet, I struggle with my appearance, I have my “fat
days” when I feel bigger than a whale and nothing I try on looks good. I know my lady friends understand the dilemma
of trying on multiple outfits and unsatisfactory tossing them all on the floor. Why do we feel like that? As a little girl I don’t remember having that
issue. In fact, when I was a little girl
I usually had a messy head of curls and was always covered in dirt from my
active, naturally curious lifestyle. Generally, as
I made my way to the door I hurriedly put on whatever outfit my hands first
yanked from the drawers excitedly to be outside. Yet, when I saw
myself in pictures or in a mirror I didn’t scrutinize every flaw of mine – I generally
liked what I saw.
Vintage Roman Coin Earrings
A few years ago I read Lies Women Believe
and the Truth that Sets Them Free, in the book Nancy Leigh De Moss exposes
many of the lies that women believe and the guilt and condemnation that comes
as product of those deceptions and God’s truth that set’s them free. I mentioned before that I love fashion (I see
it as a form of art) and I do tend to pick up used magazines at my local secondhand
book store. I love glancing at the
beautiful photographs and getting lost in the stories they tell; but, I have to
be honest before reading De Moss’ book I truly believed the information the
articles in the magazines shared was real. They
were published articles on popular magazines, thus to me they were sources of
reliable information. Like many girls I
bought into “the need to be perfect” (to be loved) or the need to be “more like
her” (to have value) which are reoccurring themes in these fashion
magazines. I saw the pieces on losing
fifteen pounds in a week and because they were on the cover of People I
believed that they were doable and when I failed to get those results I felt
like a failure. The pictures themselves
too are distortions of the truth. They
are photoshopped selling unattainable perfection and the sad thing is that girls
believe the images are real! I
remembered the day I covered photoshopping in the media in De Moss’ book I
couldn’t believe it so I googled it and the first photo I saw was one of
Madonna all wrinkly on one side and her skin absolutely perfect in the
touched-up photo. I seriously almost
fell out of my chair with delight at the truth that celebrities do age!
Before & After
I think we owe it to ourselves to do a deep
examination of self and to bring to light all those lies that we believe
about us and replace them with truth. God
told us to be more childlike to perceive life and others with a sense of wonder
and to be amazed by His beauty. All of
us are made in the image of God and just like flowers come is all forms &
colors – yet, they are each so perfectly beautiful on their own – we too are
uniquely beautiful! And if beauty is in
the eye of the beholder than I challenge you to see yourself through the loving eyes of God for He
created you and when He was finished He admiringly looked at you and said you were “very good.”
Figured it would be fun to photoshop Dollar & I (smile).
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