Childhood is such an amazing time of life, full of self-discovery and discovery of the world around us. In a safe environment, children can explore how they fit into the world in space, time, and relationships and through trial and error, love and loss. They grow up with knowledge and understanding of who they are, full of dreams, hopes, and ambitions. This is the perfect experience all children deserve and seldom receive.
Childhood today is filled with loss, grief, and pain. They are living isolated while surrounded by family who are distracted by technology, work, stress and relationship discord. These children are growing up with less understanding of who they are and how they fit into society. Social media is now the standard and selfies define our uniqueness as something imperfect and needing of correction. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons the number of minimally invasive procedures tripled from 2000 to 2018, with nearly 18 million procedures performed in 2018 alone. Plastic surgery is stealing our youth's uniqueness in an effort to be "liked" by everyone else.
There are Selfie Apps that alter a person's facial and physical features so they can post near perfection photos on social media. A little pinch of the nose, lift of the eye lid, sculpting of the chin, and perfection! Surgons who used to have clients come in with photos of their favorite movie star, now are seeing apps with altered photos of patients who show them the image they want to replicate: Me, just a better version of me.
Here's the problem with this...
Our bodies age. So, as we grow older we must constantly adjust ourselves to match our perfect image or face critical self-assessment as we can no longer maintain the image of our youth. Then what? The days of "aging gracefully" will be days of torment as age steals away our "beauty" faster than we can afford the expense of surgical upkeep.
I wish people would invest as much time and money into their character as they do on their physical images. A person of character is beautiful inside and out. The Bible tells us what is important in life and what we should focus on that matters. Never does it say we are to prioritize the outside image over the inner character,
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Philippians 4:8 NIV
Before you go out and alter what is perfectly imperfect, consider who you are changing yourself for and why are you doing it? Look inside at your character and adjust that first, you might find that your imperfections are perfectly you.
DAY 28: CHARACTER