With tears flooding down her face, she tried to share about her day.  It was not the response to “how was your day” that any of us were expecting.  I assumed the day had been full of laughs and good times with friends; she seemed relatively excited about the shopping trip before she went.  Through her quivering lips and broken speech, I heard her say that she was measured as a size fourteen for her dress today.  If you were sitting looking at the same girl I was, you would never guess that fourteen was her normal size.  Any other day, she’s a size six! 

Apparently, everyone else was measured as a zero or a four (Side note: Ahem, zero is not a size!) and were done in skinny minute.  This super cute girl took a little longer.  The “problem”?  She’s just a little more blessed in the upper-body than the rest of those girls.  Most people would consider this a good problem to have, but when you’re the only girl who took more than a minute and you measure more than twice your normal size—it’s hard not to let Satan have that opportunity to rip your self-esteem to shreds.

You would be hard-pressed to convince me that society puts as much pressure on guys as they do girls to look a certain way.  Advertisers prey on the struggles.  For example, “Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline”.  If she doesn’t feel born with it, she clearly needs Maybelline to cover it all up.  Walk through the Health and Beauty section of any store and what do you find?  Hair dying products because your natural color isn’t good enough.  Make-up in a million brands for every skin tone, because you need to look flawless.  Curling irons for the girls with straight hair and straighteners if you don’t like your curly hair.  The list goes on and on.

When did our natural looks stop being okay?  Marilyn Monroe once defined femininity at a size twelve.  What happened to that?  (Not trying to imply that Ms. Monroe is a great role model in every other area, but we do owe her for that size twelve thing!)  In fact, she said it best when she said,

“A woman is often measured by the things she cannot control.  She is measured by the way her body curves or doesn’t curve.  By where she is flat or straight or round.  She is measured by 36-24-36 and inches and ages and numbers.  By all the outside things that don’t ever add up to who she is on the inside and so if a woman is to be measured, let her be measured by the things she can control.  By who she is and who she is trying to become because as every woman knows, measurements are only statistics and statistics lie.”

Why is the “do you think I’m beautiful” question one that weighs on the heart of women so heavily?  Why do we look to anyone other than Jesus for the answer?  How does Satan get such an “in” to our hearts through our self-esteem issues?  Who decided what the “standard” for our outward appearance should be?  Who decided there should even be a standard?  And is it wrong to want to cause them bodily harm?

All of those questions were flying around my mind as I tried to decide what to offer my incredibly cute little sister.  I started with sarcastic remarks (it’s what I do), but ended with hugging her and reminding her that she’s beautiful!  We curled up and read “You Are Special” for about the hundredth time.  (It may be a children’s book, but sometimes you just have to do that.)  Bless you Max Lucado for reminding us that we are all God’s creations, made in His image, and that God doesn’t make mistakes!

I don’t have the answers to even one of those questions from last night.  I also know those same struggles VERY well.  My prayer today is that we’ll all (girls and guys alike) hear the gentle whisper of our Maker, “Remember, you are special because I made you. And I don’t make mistakes.”