I saw a tabloid newspaper at the grocery store last week that featured celebrity plastic surgeries gone wrong. The cover of the paper featured a collage of photos that vividly displayed just how right the headline was about how horribly wrong the plastic surgeries had gone.
I couldn't help but wonder why these men and women voluntarily submitted themselves to the pain of surgery and recovery, only to end up looking like they never fully recovered from the surgery. Some of them looked as if they were having some sort of meltdown--literally. Their faces looked as if they were melting away. Others looked like they were wearing grotesque masks designed to be exaggerated caricatures of the celebrities who, sadly, weren't masquerading underneath them, but were actually faced with displaying their own actually horrifying faces.
Why would anyone subject themselves to such butchery when there is a long line of victims whose distorted faces are a major warning sign against plastic surgery? I guess each person who goes under the knife doesn't think it will happen to them. Ah, the lies we tell ourselves, or the lies we willingly believe from others.
It was disheartening and disturbing to see women who were naturally beautiful and known all around the world for their beauty reduced to looking worse than low-budget wax figures. I can't imagine any wrinkles looking as horrible as the plastic surgery made them look.
Some of us may not have achieved the fame or fortune we would love to have because the Lord knows that if we had the funds we would promptly go to have this or that "fixed," "nicked," "tucked," "plumped," or "stretched" into what we shallowly define as "beautiful" or "handsome." When we succumb to worldly definitions of beauty, we forget that true beauty radiates from the inside.
My brother used to say that regardless of what we look like on the outside, personality/character are worth 50%. So, if someone is 100% attractive on the outside, but has a horrible personality, they would lose 50%, leaving them with a failing grade. On the other hand, if someone only ranks 50% in physical attractiveness but scores an additional 50% because of great character, they are 100% attractive.
Of course, it's all subjective because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But, some of us have not yet beheld the eye of our creator enough to know what the real standard of beauty is:
"They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing." (Psalm 92:14)
"The glory of young men is their strength, but the beauty of old men is their gray hair." (Prov. 20:29)
We don't lose our beauty when we age, it just shifts--so we need to shift our expectations right along with it!
Let's learn from those who would give anything to turn back time--not to be young again, but to never have allowed a surgeon to mess with God's best.
Whatever it is on your face or your body that you long to "fix", ask the Lord to fix your heart and your mind instead. After all, these physical bodies are just rentals that will return to the dust when we are through with them. If there are things that can be "fixed" with exercise, dieting and better self-care, go for it. Otherwise, pray that when you look in the mirror, you will see what God sees and you will be able to proudly face it, not fight it.
BNcouraged!
Rev. Karen
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