When Beauty Becomes the Beast

1 Samuel 16:7
"But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.  The Lord does not look at the things people look at.  People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

The scripture above appeared on my phone today.  I signed up for an application that automatically gives me a different random scripture every day.  And I have to say, I just love it!

It is this very thing that has been on my mind today- long before I read the verse.  In fact, it has been on my mind a lot lately.

I weigh 140 pounds (did I just admit that on my BLOG, for crying out loud??).  Yes, 140 pounds and that makes me a size 6 or 8 depending on the designer or brand.  So I am not obese but I do have about 10 pounds that have been driving me crazy for about three years.  Driving me crazy is an understatement.  The truth is that those pounds have a stronghold over me.

So I have gone so far as to eliminate the sugar from my coffee and tea.  I hardly ever eat bread.  I try to limit my treats and I have cut back on wine from a glass or 2 a night to a glass or 2 a week.  AND, as I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, I joined Weight Watchers online.

I start each day with an egg white omelet.  And I always eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, salads with light dressings, etc.

Nothing.

So let's talk about the flip side of this.  I have only been exercising about three times a week.  I eat snacks after dinner almost every night.  I like to eat out at restaurants at least a couple of times a week and sometimes up to three or four times a week (which KILLS any effort to lose weight).  I am always celebrating something with someone!

Today, I treated myself to a SMALL hamburger from cookout which is something I haven't done in months.  But if we are being completely honest, I treated myself to half a BIG MAC and half an order of fries last week.  LOL!

So which is it?  Carbs or Fat?  Sugar or Stevia or Agave?  Meat or no meat?  Anything you like in moderation (would someone define moderation please)?

Well, it totally depends on who you ask.

I firmly believe that in order for me to lose 10 pounds I have to go crazy.  That means no wine, no bread, no muffins, no cake, no cookies, no sugar, NO FREAKIN FUN!!!!  AND, I have to get up at the crack of dawn and get some cardio and weight training in 6 or 7 days a week.  Did I mention I really like my sleep?

So, why don't I just do that?  I mean, I am obsessing about the fact that I am NOT obsessing.  Can anyone out there relate to this craziness????????????  I mean, how low have you sunk when you are actually HOPING for a thyroid condition to explain the weight gain around the time you hit 40?

Now I am not advocating that we neglect our bodies.  We should be healthy and we should make healthy choices about our food intake and our exercise.  But I am just saying that we don't have to obsess about them either.  When we are obsessing about ourselves, we are not living our lives the way God wants us to live them.

What is driving us to starve ourselves and deprive ourselves of having a piece of cake every once in a while?  Society, that's what.  Our culture.

Take a look at these pictures of how the world has defined beauty over the years:

In 1892, Renoir found this girl beautiful




In the late 1950's, this is who the world thought was beautiful (there's some meat on those bones as well).


But this is how we see beauty today!




According to the Word of God, I think this is how He sees beauty:

1 Peter 3:3-4

New International Version (NIV)

³ Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. ⁴ Rather, 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.

As girls, the pressure to be beautiful- as defined by society- starts out young.  We live in a world where we have reality TV shows about toddlers in beauty pageants wearing make up and getting botox.

We live in a world where children's clothes look like women's clothes where skirts are very short and fabrics are very clingy and sheer.

We live in a world where little girls are wearing sexy little bikinis.

Ladies, do we really want our little girls to be sexy?  Do we want them to get that kind of attention, attention that is based on their outward appearance versus what is in their heart.

My little 8 year old girl who only weighs about 45 pounds asked me if a certain dress made her look fat?  Fat?  At 8?  And where did she get that?  I am embarrassed to say, most likely ME!!!!

They are watching us.  They are forming their opinions of what beauty is based on what they perceive OUR opinions are.

So what's yours?