Image from Anderson Cooper's Segment on Toddlers in Tiaras
We're raising daughters in a “me” generation, where women are striving for power and beauty. As a mother of a teenage girl, I see how young girls long to be popular and in the process of clawing their way to the top, can lose focus of who they were created to be. Like you, I've been there myself. They are inundated with messages through the internet, television, and magazines that remind them of how they don’t measure up to perfection.
And then there are toddlers whose parents are pushing them into the spotlight in hopes they'll obtain a tiara or two. We've all seen their photos on magazine covers at the supermarket and a fair share of video clips have circled the net. It's easy to forget that there's an impressionable child underneath all that chiffon.
Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that it's wrong to be beautiful or to dress pretty. I'm a woman, and I want to embrace that in a healthy way. What I am saying is this--don't waste this opportunity to teach your daughter where true beauty resides. Help her to focus, or REfocus if you must, on an incorruptible crown of glory. Teach her to maximize inner beauty and to be modest in all things. Show her how to live beyond herself in humility and grace.
These images are radical, but I'm not writing this post to scoff at the world around us. If I wanted to sneer at imperfection I would start by pointing a finger at myself. My daughter's future has been entrusted to MY care where for this time in her life I have a responsibility to point her in the best direction I can.
In order to cultivate inner beauty that lasts we have to start asking ourselves, what are WE modelling for these girls? Faith calls us to walk in humility, kindness, sincerity, and love. These are the things that not only enrich our lives; they affect the people around us. These are the things that cultivate inner beauty which will last much longer than any trophy or tiara ever will.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ~ 1 Corinthians 9:25, NIV
Sam Levenson a television host and journalist who was popular in the 1960s to early ‘70s wrote a poem called, “Time-Tested Beauty Tips.” The poem has often been attributed to Audrey Hepburn in error as it was one of her favorite poems, but the truth is that Sam wrote it for his granddaughter. It’s a beautiful reminder of what true beauty is.
Time-Tested Beauty Tips
For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; Never throw out anybody.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!
--Sam Levenson
You are loved by an almighty God, Darlene
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