Beauty

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.
You don't love people because they are beautiful, people are beautiful because you love them.
WE are beauty, beauty is what lies inside of us. A women is beautiful by her heart.

^These are just a few thoughts running around my head as I ponder beauty.

I was watching Oprah the other day with Jessica Simpson as she talked about beauty and her new series soon to premiere on VH1 titled "The Price of Beauty: Beauty Around the World." Let me tell you, I think it is going to be a most phenomenal series after seeing some preview clips and hearing Jessica and her two friends, Cacee Cobb and Ken Paves, talk about their experiences.
As I listened to Jessica and Oprah talk, it really got me to thinking about beauty and what it means. As Oprah said, "You can't define beauty." And it's so true, you absolutely cannot define beauty for beauty is what you make it. What beauty is in one culture may not be beauty in another culture (visa versa).

As I continued to watch the Oprah episode I became upset and saddened by a number of things.

1) When Jessica was plastered all over the magazines for her infamous "mom jeans," people were calling her fat. This upsets me because A) Jessica was a size 4, yes you heard me. She as never been bigger than a size 6, and yet people have the nerve to call her fat. B) Who is anybody to tell somebody he/she is fat? I mean really! If Jessica is setting the standard for fat scales and beauty scales, etc, then we're all screwed.
[I am so thankful for Jessica and her sensitive and strong heart. I pray God may continue to use her to raise awareness of true beauty.]

2) Later in the episode, Oprah showed film reported in China and the rise in plastic surgery. Many of the Chinese are having plastic surgery on their eyes to rid of some of the excess fat and give them more of an eyelid like eyes of those in the western culture. Others are having surgery to be made taller. This is done by breaking the legs and takes about a year once the surgery is complete to go through rehab, to learn it walk all over again, etc, etc.
The host went to the worlds first barbie store located in China and surveyed some girls. One little girl didn't like Asian dolls and preferred barbie. Two teen girls went on to say they [Chinese girls] cannot change their eye color, hair color, etc but that if they can do their best to look/be as much like barbie then that would be good.

This episode of Oprah made my heart break. Our world's idea of beauty is so messed up!
My prayer for every women and every man is that she and he find peace, confidence, love, and happiness in how God has designed them and who He has made them to be. Please do not let the weight of this world bring you down, rather let the kingdom of Christ lift you up.
Be beautiful, be YOU!