Body Image

I was photographing this senior beauty and saw some movement in a nearby building. Boys. Staring. Of course. At first, I thought it was pretty funny. And it was.

 Then I started thinking about modesty. Not because she was being immodest -not in the least- but because sometimes as women, we won’t even notice how our bodies affect men, especially those who are peeking out of buildings in the background.  It’s funny because in my mind, which is constantly bombarded with advertisements shamelessly trying to sell products (you know the ones I’m talking about!), I often don’t measure up.  I think most men can easily see past the "sexy" of a supermodel ad. They're not so easily fooled. But not women: we resort to all sorts of things. I know plenty who have starved themselves, had plastic surgery, are shy with their husbands in the bedroom, or simply nitpick any and every part of their bodies. I'm certainly not excluded. I don’t like this or that part of my body, but yet somehow, I’m not paying enough attention to cover it up.

Yesterday, at church -yep, at church, the very place where I would hope a man could be safe from the temptation of ogling scantily clad women- I stuck my lip gloss into my “secret pocket,” commonly known as a bra. Ladies, you’re welcome for that tip. I didn’t notice that my shirt started slipping a little lower than I (and probably my husband) would have liked. But my two year old daughter did, and she grabbed my lip gloss out of my cleavage in front of everyone while I just sat there realizing that my boobs were halfway out. I don’t pay enough attention to modesty. Embarrasing.  

I think it’s a great trick of the devil to make women not only misunderstand the power of their femininity (to not even notice that our boobies may be causing some distraction somewhere), but to actually think the opposite and find their bodies unsightly -whether it be boobies, booties, feet, hair, eyelashes or elbows. 

So, now I’ve got two messed up and worldly ideas, immodesty and poor body image, going on in the same brain. Oh boy.

I love in scripture when Jesus is confronted with an A or B question and He gives a C answer that totally surpasses all the other options. (Matthew 22:23-33, Mark 12:13-17) So what’s the third option for how we think about our bodies and ourselves?  What does God want us to think about our bodies? How does He feel about them?  What do you guys think?

Hannah, I hope you know how beautiful you are! Congratulations!