The Dangers of Caring Too Much

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us through off everything that hinders and the sin which so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

-Hebrews 12:1-2

Sometimes, I've found that our struggle with beauty can be a weight; a hindrance designed to drag us down and make us turn our eyes from our Creator. Think about it: do you spend more time contemplating the glory of God or the imperfections you saw in your face in the mirror? I myself am often guilty of worrying more about the opinions of people rather than the opinion of God. This is a hindrance. The Devil doesn't want you to fix your eyes on Jesus; he wants you to invest in the treasures of this world, so that your heart is here and not in heaven. For girls our age, that often comes in the form of this never-ending quest to be "pretty." When we focus so much on how we look that it overtakes everything else, beauty has become an obsession that will only tear us down and make us feel worthless. This is when we come to such drastic measures as eating-disorders and self-harm; because we cannot fulfill our obsession.

There's really only one way to solve this problem: throw off everything that hinders, or-as in some versions-cast off every weight. Just like our rocks, things of this world can weigh us down and prevent us from truly running this race. This includes our quest for beauty. If we are focusing more on how we look than on how we are shining our light, it becomes a hindrance that we need to get rid of. In order to do this, we need to come to terms with a couple of things:

     1) we are created beautiful, so we need to stop trying to be.

     2) we cannot please everyone, especially ourselves. No matter how hard you try, you cannot impress everyone, so focus on the one who does matter, and who sees the beauty in your heart: God.