God has told me to spend 1 year without wearing makeup. He prompted me with the question "If a woman can only feel beautiful with makeup, does she really feel beautiful?" If being in the image of the perfect woman is our god, then beauty is our heaven and ugliness is our hell. No one wants to be hideous for eternity, much less for a minute. If this is true, and I believe it is, then everyone strives to be beautiful.
We are surrounded by perfectly beautiful people in magazines, in movies, in TV shows, on billboards, but we never see them on the street, in our classes, or at work. Never seeing this perfected beauty with our own eyes gives us a sense of impossibility to become like this. We settle for depression, low self-esteem, eating disorders, destructive habits. We cannot achieve these standards. Have you asked yourself why? Why can't we be that beautiful, skinny, attractive? 99.9% of magazine covers have been retouched. I assume the same for billboards and other types of advertisement. If our goal is unattainable and our standards literally cannot be reached, then should we still try?
We were given desires to be fulfilled. This is truth. Where we find our purpose, our security, our fulfillment is where we put our worth. If our worth is in our looks, we will be disappointed. If we put our worth in how others see us, we will be ashamed. Lie: a pimp telling a girl that she is beautiful and he will take care of her, he will provide shelter, comfort, and hope. Truth: Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised! - proverbs 31:30
Beauty is the combination of qualities. If something is beautiful for a season and that season ends, move on, there is more beauty to be discovered!
