I'm sure you've heard this a million times, as have I. I hear it and repeat it...yet I probably compare myself to someone at least 10 times a day.
The problem with this is that it leads us down a dark and lonely road. First we compare, which leads to jealousy, which leads to hateful thoughts about the person, which leads to self-hate, and on and on and on.
Whose to say that we aren't good enough? Whose to say that each one of us doesn't have something new and different to offer? Who on earth is bigger than God himself to tell us we aren't good enough?
The answer is...no one.
Magazines, television shows, movies, and modeling agencies....they all think they have the answer to what someone is supposed to look like, talk like, and dress like....but they know far less than we give them credit for.
God made us. God created us. God knows us. God cares for us.
Can I get an Amen?
God doesn't care if you go out and buy the newest fashion item nor does he care if you are the clumsiest person in the world. He loves you and he cares for you just the way you are and just the way he made you, which is a million times more than any magazine can say.
This being said, I completely understand that anything in life is easier said than done. I open up my computer and go on Pinterest and all I see are skinny, beautiful women wearing the clothes that I want, they are in the places I want to be and there is not one flaw in their skin.
But then I stop myself and remember, this is not real life.
All of these pictures are staged at the most perfect moment, with the perfect sunlight, with the perfect breeze, because people pay to see it. That's the business folks. People go to school to figure these things out....they are paid for this!
Don't get me wrong...I love fashion, I love modeling, I love pretty colors, I love it all. I was a fashion major for goodness sake.
The bigger picture is sometimes it all can lead us down an unwanted path of comparing ourselves and thinking we are not good enough, if we are not careful.
Most people take Proverbs 4:23 which reads...
"Above all else, guard your heart, from everything you do flows from it."
...and think of it only in the way that you should guard your heart from boys/ girls to make sure that they don't break it. Which, I get to an extent, but that's a different rant.
But, the way I see it, is to protect your heart from evil and protect your heart from worldly desires. If that fashion magazine you're reading only makes you feel worse about yourself and your body, then close it. If that television show is triggering bad thoughts and making you think thoughts of self-hate, then shut it off.
This isn't to say you can never buy magazines and never watch t.v...but just protect yourself and be careful. Be aware that these things are making you feel ways God never intended you to feel, and don't take them seriously.
When we start consuming our hearts and minds with ugly thoughts, it reflects in the way we speak and act towards others. And no one wants to be ugly, am I right?
God loves us. He loves you for being clumsy, silly, artsy...and he just loves you for you. This is what we need to cling to when we start comparing ourselves to others. Who cares what they think? It's about what God thinks.
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