My word for May 17th is APPEARANCE

My word for May 17^th is APPEARANCE

All over the media, on television shows and in magazines, there is always something being said about appearance. “What Not to Wear”, Cosmo, and Victoria Secret are just a few that push sexy and thin.   Then there is Botox, plastic surgery, and tanning beds.  Young women are being made to feel that they have to do certain things to look good.    The impression is given off that thin is beautiful; you must be thin to be pretty.  Last month on Anderson Cooper his guests were mothers and daughters.    These mothers were obsessed with their appearances.  They exercises, tanned, and put their daughters on the same plans.  One daughter said her mother had her on a diet since age 5. Anderson also had brides on his show discussing how they shrunk their bodies to fit into their dresses and got the perfect look for the big day.  These women went to extreme measures to fit in that special wedding dress.  One bride went on the KE diet and shed 20 pounds in 10 days.  She had a feeding tube that ran from her nose to her stomach.   This tube put protein, fat, and water into her.  She didn’t eat at all.  There is also an app that everyone can get on his or her phone called the “ugly meter”.  You take a picture and the app tells you, on a scale from 1-10, how ugly or how beautiful you are.  What are we doing to young girls?  There is so much pressure on girls to be thin and beautiful.  Tara Banks is finished with this nonsense of being bone thin.  She, along with others, is pressing forward for girls to have curves and realize that all females go through stages in life where their bodies change.  By using her show, “Next Top Model” Tara is showing that you can be heavier and be beautiful; you don’t have to be a walking toothpick starving yourself to death.

My grandma always told me, “Pretty is as pretty does”!  This is the same way God feels.  God doesn’t care about your appearance.   He doesn’t want you to abuse your body He wants you to be healthy, but in His eyes everyone is beautiful.  God made each of us in His image He doesn’t make trash.  Everyone is an individual and is unique having his or her own qualities and characteristics.  God’s focus is on developing your inner beauty.  Being beautiful on the inside reflects out to others.  We should focus on our heart and on our actions and keep our appearance in perspective.  It is a fact that we will all age.  We shouldn’t be unhappy with wrinkles or gray. Those are the markings that give us character and show the world that we have experienced many things during our lifetime.  God wants us to work on our inside beauty the kind of beauty that lasts forever.  This beauty makes us shine from the inside out continually giving to others. 

You are a masterpiece no matter what your outward appearance shows.  You are wonderfully made by God.  We are just like snowflakes no two alike, but each beautiful. 

Dear God we know that we need to stay healthy for You, but we also know that you have made each of us unique individuals.  You have made us each have a special appearance.  You have specific plans for us that allow us to have the characteristics that we each have.   Help us to show others our beauty that You have created within us.   During 2012 assist us in letting our inner beauty shine. 

1 Samuel 16:7 NIV - "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/sexuality/preventing_the_sexualization_of_your_daughter/what_the_ Focus on the Family, What the Bible Says About Beauty and Appearance, Vicki Courtney

http://christianteens.about.com/od/whatthebiblesaysabout/f/Appearance.htm About.com Christian Teens, What the Bible Says About …Appearance, Kelli Mahoney