zero.

Before I write this, I want to make sure that I explain a little background. I am writing this with a heart heavy and burdened for this generation. These thoughts are coming from someone who struggled with body image in high school and turned to anorexia. This is also coming from someone who is still a size double zero because I cant manage to gain weight. I struggled with years of pain and hurt and eventually healing that followed the lifestyle of starving myself to look "prettier". 

Lately I have noticed how young girls who are preteen and early teens are dressing. What they are obsessing over and what they are focused on. They want to eat the right foods so their bodies stay just so, they dress like they are twenty, and they focus their minds on things older girls should worry about. Then I see high school girls wearing more make up then I have ever worn and dressing in ways that would only grab guys attention. And why wouldn't they be seeking after this? Isn't this the message the world is sending them? Isn't this the message WE are sending them? We are telling young girls that they need to be a small size, they need to wear make up, they need to dress to attract guys. We are living and encouraging a sex crazed/weight obsessed/unrealistic generation. We shouldn't expect much more from a world that is corrupt in sin, but us Christians should not be encouraging this. It hurts me how often Christians are just like the world in this area (I am preaching to the choir here as I too am guilty of this. I won't call out specific things, but I know we as a church fall short in the area of encouraging real beauty. Exercise is no longer a mean to be healthy, it's an obsession to be the perfect size (I am not saying everyone exercises for this reason). Everywhere I look the stores are selling the most ridiculous clothes for preteen girls as well as teenage girls. Shirts too low or dare I say too short (not sure what fashion statement we are trying to make with shirts that don't quite cover our stomach, classy right?) And the shorts these days are just beyond anything I wanted to see and I am girl!! I said earlier we were raising a sex crazed generation and you might be wondering how that fits in with this topic of dress and make up. Well what is the point of wearing revealing clothes and so much make up that we could draw things on your face? That answer is simple, to draw attention. And who is the attention coming from? Guys of course. So we are teaching these girls to dress and appear a certain way so they can get a guy to stare at them and then have horrible thoughts? What is this lie we are allowing them to buy into that they have to be a size zero or whatever the "perfect size" is? Who even came up with that perfect size!?!? I don't think that parents or even older girls who are Christians realize what they are creating for these precious children when they encourage any of these things. And no I am not saying any of these things are wrong. I wear make up and dress somewhat fashionably. What I am saying is that as adults we are encouraging this in ways we don't even know. I guess I am saying to you women that you examine your life and the kind of example you are setting for younger girls. Think a little harder about the consequences such as the heartache, the feelings of not being enough, and the feelings of not being beautiful before you talk or before you get dressed. Don't encourage girls to be obsessed with their looks because who they are and what they do with their lives is what matters most in the end. 

I pray Proverbs 31: 30 is not just a verse that we plaster on t shirts and bumper stickers but something we live out for the generation that follows.

-Ariana