Perception of Beauty

You've probably seen commercials for Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty, which is dedicated promoting the development of positive self-esteem among girls and young women.  The Campaign tries to break down the beauty stereotypes we know today through workshops and mentoring programs.  While poking around on their website, I discovered the Campaign was actually brought about by a global study entitled "The Truth About Real Beauty".  The study found that the world's definition of beauty was "limiting and unattainable", affecting the self-image of millions of women worldwide.  The study also found that only two percent of the world's women described themselves as beautiful, and eighty-one percent of women in the US agreed that the media sets a standard of beauty that is simply unrealistic.

This data simply breaks my heart; I know it was difficult for me to view myself as beautiful when I was growing up. Okay, I'll admit- it still is difficult to see myself as beautiful, and I think the issue is only getting harder for younger girls.  I feel like a good chunk of this problem is simply the fact that we compare ourselves with each other on daily basis (and not just in the looks department).  We constantly base our self-worth on the results of our comparisons with other individuals.  Why are other individuals always our standards?  Those of us who are believers know that this world cannot offer us anything- including the appropriate measures by which we are to check ourselves.  Only the Almighty Father has good and perfect standards- definitely not the media.

In college, a friend once told me I was pretty.  I chortled and replied, "No, I'm really not.  I-" She cut me off and looked straight at me, "You are a creation of the Lord.  Don't say His creation is not beautiful.  Because it is, no matter what you or anyone else thinks."  Wow.  I had never, in all my life, thought of the situation in that light.  We are a creation of the most Beautiful One and He looks into our hearts.  

That's the other problem.  Beauty is today defined by physical attributes; character is usually never mentioned.  And if beauty is only physical, then a very small percentage of individuals will be considered beautiful- and even then only for a short time before they reach an "undesirable" age.  If only every girl would trust that "Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised" (Proverbs 31:30) more than the latest fashion magazine, how much more fulfilling their pursuit of beauty would be!   

Ladies, I encourage you to do what is written in Titus 2 and "...teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled."  Though I am not a mother to a daughter yet, I pray that I would be able to teach my little girl about the standards the Lord has set for us and to throw aside those worldly standards of everything- including physical beauty- in wholehearted pursuit of Him.  And though I don't have a little girl of my own, there are still little girls and young women in my life to whom I can teach this concept.  I pray we would all take on the responsibility to teach this generation of girls and young women how to become truly beautiful in the eyes of the Lord.

This video is from the Campaign for Real Beauty; I think it's important for women and girls who are struggling with that issue of constant comparison (and even those who aren't) to watch it.  It's only a minute long, but I guarantee it will make you think hard about this issue.