Before And After

I leaned over my Starbucks and looked at the photo. I glanced back up into her trusting brown eyes, a little startled. “She was so gorgeous before and then she...oh my! What do you think? Isn’t she just crazy?” she asked me. “Before and after”: we all are intrigued by those photos, and this time I was, too.



Before and After





My response to her? “We all are crazy.” And then I went on…At least everyone one of us who looks at what God created in nature and says, “Hey…that’s needs switched up. That mountain is too craggy and that flower is just too pink!” We are not all Megan Fox, but that is a wonderful thing. Together we may look at her and ask “Why? Why is she ‘so perfect’ and then why did she feel like she needed to change her appearance?” But I ask, “Why are you so perfect and want to change your appearance, little pink flower?”

                                                                                                                    

I am told by my young informant that Ms. Fox is trying to look like someone else, another famous celebrity. This I don’t know for a fact, but what I do know, is that it sure seems like it and it is so sad. If people like a specific person, they will go to that specific person, not their copy. It is a privilege to be your original, just as you are: zany, hilarious, awkward, quiet, and always growing up. Large, small, wide, narrow, muscley, plump, or teeny-tiny is perfect, as you live a life of health for you.

Girls especially like to look into the mirror, out of curiosity. Honestly, some days the reaction is, “Oh my! I’m so beautiful the world must see me today!” and then a few days later its “Oh my! I’m so hideous I want to hide forever under my covers!”  Why? This happens because you don’t know what you’re looking at.

You think it is your face. Really, it’s the outside of a created thing that is. Yes, one might say “it is just the way things are and that’s that” and while that’s true and a relief, there’s more. When you only gaze upon yourself, figuratively or literally, you can’t see anything else. You lose perspective of when, where, who, and what. You forget who you really are, your blessings, —and your purpose.

Is it your purpose to be looked at by people like an exhibit? That rather sounds disgusting and every human’s value it above that! But do you accidentally live like that? Is your value based upon comparison? It happens easily mentally, too. But, it is not true. God determines that. And He sent His Son to die for each individual.

I will say what you’ve heard before. “Beauty comes from within.” I turned down the street, glancing into my rearview mirror with a deprecating look. My sister piped up in the back seat, “Man, you are just so ugly when you frown at me like that.” She did instantly put my computer down and stop browsing, but she was right, in a way. Frowns are ugly. Mean is ugly. Brats are ugly. Selfishness, lack of caring, no character, anger, and jealousy are all ugly. But, you don’t have to be. What we think, say, and choose to feel shows in our appearance.

Don’t tell me anything remotely like, “Easy for you to say.” or I will post photos of myself between the ages of 12-15 and the world will not be at happy place.  No, actually, I am joking. But I did go through a gajillion times 85 negative thoughts about my appearance as a teen and I had those desperate moments, too. Give yourself time as you grow in good character and kindness. You might be surprised eventually, if you ever even feel like looking in the mirror, after you find yourself captivated by the goodness of God and His other designs around you.

Your “before and after” is easily made perfect for you. You are not too pink and no mountain is too craggy. No cloud is too puffy and you are just you, like all creations. Become your best you from the inside out, because that is how it works.

This is one of my favorite movies to show how photographed women get airbrushed. We wouldn’t think that she became pretty if we didn’t know what fake pretty looks like.