Thoughts from Memphis

Hey guys, Stephanie here. First of all, I feel grateful to know that there are actually people reading and following this blog. I've been able to talk to some of you about it, and seriously, the encouragement means so much. Bbb leaves room for all of us.

Here's a thought I've been ruminating over lately. It's a good and holy thing to have a positive body image. To me, that means appreciating the way God made your body, rejoicing in its abilities and respecting it by taking care of it. It means not nitpicking and critizinging the qualities of our physical appearance that we cannot or do not need to change. See your body as a beautiful, worthy gift from God.

But the danger is so close behind. The minute we begin to attribute our worth as people to our physical bodies, we have missed the point of who we are, and begun to devalue our souls. This works in the positive and negative. If you attach your identity to how beautiful to appear on the outside, you're missing the opportunity to develop real beauty, which seeks out others in kindness, without being prideful and showy. If you are constantly down on how you look, complaining about this or that, and dissatisfied with your body, you too are guilty of placing your value on external appearance. We're all guilty of these attitudes one time or another. These attitudes are ugly.

I think this is especially hard as women. We live in a culture that tells us we are literally not worth listening to if we don't meet a standard of beauty. Less attractive women are less valued by society. It is so tragic but true. This is why we are all so terrified of growing old, and certainly feeds this paranoid, comparative obsession we have about our looks.

What can we do? Do we even have a chance of combating this madness? I think so. I think that we have the power to try and see people the way God sees them, and maybe even try to see ourselves the way God sees us. Can you imagine if we tried that? If we, like God himself, aimed to look not at the physical state, but at the heart? I think it would result in some truly beautiful things.