“When I look at my friends, I can’t help but myself with them. I always feel insecure, thinking I’m never pretty enough or smart enough. Do you have any advice?” – Feeling Insecure
dear Insecure,
I feel your pain. I used to compare myself with others and each time I did, I felt uglier and uglier. You don’t have to let this continue. Stop for a moment and consider this: when you compare yourself to others, you are forgetting the good that God designed in you. God did not make a mistake with you. You are who you are for a good reason — God delights in you and He wants you to bask in that delight!
Beauty is something that we often see as merely external, but can I challenge you to see beauty that goes beyond skin deep? Such beauty is when you say something kind when you could have snapped back. Such beauty is when you stand up for your friend when everyone else goes against her. Such beauty is when we put others before self. Such beauty is when we live out Christ in our lives in all we do, think, and say.
The world tells us to do otherwise all the time. But you can choose to focus on how God sees you and not how the world defines you. Catch yourself whenever you compare and choose to stop. Turn your attention to the truth and choose to believe. We pray that with God’s help, you will see yourself as beautiful!
“Just wondering, is it wrong to want to get plastic surgery?” – Still Unplastic
dear Unplastic,
Thank you for asking such a good question that may be on many other girls’ minds but are not voiced! Plastic surgery is a great technological wonder that has been extremely crucial for burn and accident victims, giving them the opportunity to have a more ordinary way of life. However, in recent times, when plastic surgery is sought for the sole purpose of enhancing one’s looks to mimic what the world deems as beautiful, then perhaps we need to look a bit further into the matter.
You may have wondered, what is the difference between plastic surgery and putting on makeup or piercing one’s ears? Don’t they all have the same end goal of enhancing the way one looks? On the surface, that is true. However, a few factors differ: plastic surgery involves having to go under the knife, is usually a permanent procedure that cannot be fully reversed, and requires a lot of money.
To me, it appears to be playing God to some extent, because we simply desire a certain outcome that has been deemed valuable by the world. We could be, in fact, loudly proclaiming that God’s creation is flawed. We could be choosing to completely change a part of us so that we no longer have to face the reality we don’t like when we look in the mirror.
At the end of the day, I don’t think undergoing itself plastic surgery is a matter of right or wrong. Instead, I would like to suggest that you look at your motives behind wanting to do so. The Dig Deeper column on grey areas (Pg. 29) might be helpful as well.
Christ wants you to be secure in who you have been made to be — God made you, and what He creates is good. He calls us away from the external to look instead at what we are truly made of: our attitudes, our thoughts, and our actions towards Him and others. Don’t let your looks be the measuring stick for your life. Let Christ change your perspective on beauty and teach you how to live in His beauty according to His ways!
