Ugly, Mean, and Fat

This morning, as I do almost every morning, I helped my three year old daughter pick out clothes to wear. The scenario usually resembles a tug-of-war where one of us finally gives up. Today was no different except that she refused to wear the shorts and shirt I chose because she claimed that "those make me look ugly, mean, and fat." I was devastated.

One of my greatest fears is raising a girl-child who is insecure because of her outward appearance. Every where I look--television, radio, internet, billboards, and even within personal relationships--sexy women are glorified. I was haunted by these images as a young girl, never feeling pretty enough compared to my friends and then as a teenager/young woman never feeling sexy enough compared to the images I idolized in magazines and movies. The world is not going to help my sweet daughter either.

I continue to buy the lie sometimes. Every time I read 1 Peter: 2-5, though, I am reminded:

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—  but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands...

Don't women seek to no end "imperishable beauty"? I think the last fifteen infomercials I have watched were for some sort of new miracle beauty product. Not surprisingly, God gives us a clear way to obtain beauty, and it doesn't have anything to do with the latest wrinkle cream. Think of the kindest woman you know. How does she look to you? Isn't she beautiful?

It's an ongoing battle. As parents and relatives of small girls, we have to protect our daughters from oversexualization at a young age, and then we must insulate them with the Truth so that they will be armed to face the world who is waging war against their tender souls. There can never be enough reassurance in this area. We should not pressure our young females to adopt a world's view of beauty so that they can be popular.

I grabbed my little blessing's face with tears in my eyes and said, "Please don't ever think of or talk about yourself using those three words. Baby, you are beautiful." She is. HE is.