Lost In the Prairies.....Found by God

Last week I watched an episode of Toddlers & Tiaras with my 8 year.  I do not normally watch this show.  However, this time I did.  At the beginning of the show my daughter was excited and asked if we could do this.  I answered "NO!"  I asked her which is more important to God:  inside or outside beauty?  She replied inside.  I told her these people pay attention to only the outside beauty.  That they pay thousands of dollars on beauty treatments, wigs, fake teeth (flippers), spray tanning and clothes.  As I was telling her this, one of the girls was getting her new flipper.  I asked my daughter if she wanted one.  She replied "NO!"

Once the contestants arrived at the pageant, one of the moms started talking about spray tanning her 5 year old daughter.  She had been against it until she was told by the "tanner" that her daughter would not be competitive unless she did it.  She caved.  I asked my daughter if the little girl looked better before or after the tanning?  She answered before.  I asked her if she still wanted to do pageants.  She stated "NO!"  At that point I changed the channel and we watched Cake Wars.

This week Cindy at She Sparkles is calling a Fat Talk Free Week.  I feel that this is important  because I think as women we get caught up in how the world wants us to be versus what God wants us to be.  We buy into the lies and demean ourselves.  Many harm themselves striving to be what the world wants.  What we should be asking is what God wants.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, 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 and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3: 3-4 NIV84

God loves us just for us.  He longs for us and He only wants us to be humble.  To think of Him 1st and follow His commands.  To be completely surrendered to Him.  When we focus only on our outside appearances, we dishonour God by loving what the world loves and making our beauty our idols.  I am not saying you should not take care of yourself and let yourself go.  We also have to remember that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1Cor 6:19).  We just need to be aware when our taking care of those temples becomes an idol.

I am thankful for Toddlers and Tiaras because it has opened doors between my daughter and I regarding outward appearances and our hearts.  This is just the beginning but I know we have many battles yet to overcome.