Self Worth

I am back!!!!  Very excited to say that in the last week I have accomplished a few things.  "Abundance" is officially opening the doors tomorrow and I think it is adorable.  I have lots of herbs, supplements, and vitamins which is wonderful.  I am also making natural bath products, and I must say that is the most fun I have had in the kitchen, maybe ever.  Making lip balm is amazing, I can't believe I used to pay for the stuff.  In the near future I will be blogging my recipe but I have something else on my mind this morning.

Last night I went out for sushi with a few girlfriends.  We had a wonderful time and the conversation was fabulous.  It confirmed some things that God has been doing in my heart for a while.  Women, I would venture to say nearly all, struggle with where they derive their self worth.  This is something I have been grappling with literally for years, possibly since I was a teenager.

Society inadvertently teaches us, beginning pre-puberty, that our worth is found in....what we look like, watching an episode of "Toddlers and Tiaras" the other night was an extreme case of this, but even girls that aren't put in pageants feel the pressure to be pretty.  As time goes on and we do reach puberty it increases, pretty girls are treated better, it's a fact don't even think about arguing with me.  During the pre and mid pubescent years one out of four girls are molested, value placed on the female body and what it does for a male.  As teenagers we are constantly exposed to media that shows perfect bodies, perfect make up, teeth, hair, etc.  Impossible to live up to but we all try.  Time goes on and we become women and more of the same.  Really nothing changes, we compare ourselves to what media shows us, magazines, each other, never satisfied with ourselves.  We give birth and then complain about the evidence left as stretch marks, a little or big pooch on the stomach, breasts that don't stay in place after nursing the babies.  Then we get a little older and we hear peers talk about women that are greying and don't color their hair and we are once again pressured into fitting into a mold that the world is creating for us.  We spend a fortune on clothes that may cover those undesirable bumps.  Some even go as far as plastic surgery to lift those boobs, remove that cellulite, flatten the tummy.  Botox, which is literally poison to paralyze facial muscles.  Just writing this is making me nauseous.

So what is my point?

Who and what are we doing this for?  I believe with all my heart that as women we are buying a lie.  I think I am a pretty intelligent person and I fall victim on a regular basis.  However, I have decided to wage war on this lie in my own life.  That is not at all to say I think you are a bad person if you do all of the things I mentioned but I do think you should at least consider looking at the "why".  My value has absolutely nothing to do with what I look like, it has nothing to do with how good I am morally, it has nothing to do with what I can do domestically, it has nothing to do with how good I am in bed, it has nothing to do with anything on this planet I can "DO".

This morning I was laying in bed thinking about this.  I have heard preachers say it is in the fact that I am a Christian, which is close, but that still leaves it in something I have "done" by choosing to follow Christ.  But that would also mean that I have more value that someone who hasn't, which I do not for a second believe.  My value is wrapped up in one thing......I am a creation of God, made in His image, period the end.  If you are thinking that is extremely generic think again.  That means that the way God made me, and trust me that is not entirely desirable, is exactly the way I am supposed to be.  I am unique, extremely strong willed, crazy eccentric, moody but learning to control it, oversensitive especially when I have PMS, very project oriented, I adore change, I could go on but I think I made my point.  God created me, perfectly imperfect, my new favorite term.  I may choose to color my hair again but it won't be because I feel like I have to, I will put on makeup in a few minutes because the truth is I like to "feel pretty", I will try to be a good wife and mother because the things I "do" bring glory to God.  But I will no longer confuse the things I "do" with where my value as a woman lies.

Comments

  1. Nicely put. : ) Maybe I should email this to Bravo's "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills"... lol!

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  2. This is so true Nicole and a great reminder for myself! Thanks!!

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  3. Thanks ladies! Much easier said than done, but as long as we are working in that direction HIS grace will be sufficient.

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  4. Wow, The Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free....Wed night Bible study....girl! I had to check the author-nope the name was not yours..but could'a should'a been..I am learning so much from it & you just nailed it with your post.. You are amazing.

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