Comfortable in Your Own Skin

This post is mostly for the girls, just to let you know.

They sit on the kitchen counter, on the couch, in the check-out line at grocery stores, seemingly harmless pieces of literature that hide a deadly lie. Whether it's simply a JC Penny catalogue or the latest People magazine, the models on the front imply the same truth-claim. This truth-claim can be summed up with Lightning McQueen's catch phrase from Disney's Cars. Buy what we sell or do what we say... "And you too can look like me!" Add the "ka-chow!" and you've got it made.
But take a closer look. The deceit goes even further.
Blasted through commercials and product jingles, they all declare "Look like this, and you will find happiness."
The lie that outward appearance is what really matters must be right up there on the list of most prevalent lies. Walk into any shopping mall and you will be blasted with it, disguised by bright colors, flashing smiles, and lyrics to catchy pop-culture music.
This lie is especially pernicious to us as young women. Even growing up in a sheltered, loving home, I find myself falling prey to this lie. We have all seen them. The young girls on the magazine covers who seem to have everything we don't; the hair, the eyes, the clothes, the figure, the complexion, the smile. I have heard that quiet whisper in my ear, telling me that if only I could look like her my life would be everything I ever wanted.
If we fall prey to this deceit, however, we will not only fail to find the happiness promised, but lose the joy that God has given to us. We need to come to the realization that we need to be comfortable in the skin we are in, because frankly, we don't get a new one. And spending your whole life looking for something you cannot have is going to sap the joy out of you.
But more than realizing that we are who we are, we also need to realize that we are who we are because God made us that way. We need to be comfortable in our own skin, knowing that God likes it that way, because that's the way He made us.
1 Peter 3: 3-4 says, "Do not let your adornment be merely outward-- arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel-- rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."
As young women, we ought to be more worried about a beautiful character than a beautiful appearance, because that is what God cares about. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with looking pretty (in fact caring for the bodies God has given is is very important,) but if we are trying to be pretty at the expense of our character, we will never find the joy we are looking for.
We need to realize that outward beauty will fade no matter how hard we try to stop it. We will not always be young. But if we start developing a beautiful character now, it will last us a lifetime. A gentle and quiet spirit is a beauty that cannot be touched by age and that will still be with us when we stand before God's throne when all our earthly beauty has passed away.
I encourage you to resist this lie not as someone who has already reached the goal, but as a young girl who is still striving to understand what that means. Let us persevere together to become young women of beautiful character.