The name? Bridalplasty.
What's it about? Brides competing for plastic surgery.
The women on the show compete by writing vows or planning honeymoons and the "winner" of each level is awarded various surgeries. I only watched long enough to witness a few chosen ladies who won a certain level and were moved up, leaving two women who had to return home, with no "cutting" in their future. Both girls cried over their loss, as I expected, but I remember thinking, "They are really very attractive. I can't imagine what they would want to cut on themselves." THEN my eyes caught two pictures hanging on the wall behind them. They were pictures of the same two ladies in beautiful wedding gowns - with a Barbie-like waist, colored hair, toned arms.... Very different from the true looks of the two girls left behind. Interviewing them, one by one, the first woman pointed to "her picture" and said, "I just wanted to look like that! That is how beautiful I could be! And now I'll never have a chance...." My blood boiled and my heart broke. Here was a pretty, average lady and her sense of self worth was so low, that she was on national television competing for a chance to change everything about her physical appearance. Her natural beauty was not good enough when held up next to mock photographs of some imagined model-like image of herself.
Our society has made beauty to be strictly outward when God Himself said that HE looks on the heart (2 Samuel 16:7). Have you, ladies, ever walked into Wal-Mart into the make-up section and just stood there overwhelmed? What about the shampoo and hair gel section? Or the face wash area? So many choices and so many targeted to "fix" puffy eyes, wrinkles, blotches, blemishes, age spots, freckles, and enlarged pores. Don't mistake me, there is nothing wrong with wanting to look your best or get rid of a few problem areas, but our society has made the outward physical appearance an obsession! The media holds up airbrushed models and tells us that we have to look like that - something that is unattainable, even for the model herself!
Hollywood produces magazines with the latest "how-to-fix-this" and "how-to-get-rid-of-that" in order to "keep your marriage on fire" and the number of lasting marital relationships in Hollywood is....well....I'll just say LOW.
The media has made beauty to be all about the outward adorning and has made marriage to be all about two things: sex and selfishness. Forget intimacy or deep bonding. It's now about the thrill and the fire of a biological act. Forget giving 100% all of the time. It is about getting your own needs met. Women are expected to show no emotion, be aggressive, be seductive little play toys, and never get wrinkles or stretch marks.
I'm on my soap box, I know. But how I wish that the girls and women of today would stop being materialistic and obsessed with their physical appearance. It is Jesus Christ who adorns a woman with beauty and HIS beauty lasts forever (yes, even well into your 70's). You can have all the plastic surgeries there is to offer, but if you do not have an intimate relationship with Christ, then your physical beauty is vain. Meaningless. And it will vanish quickly. You can have all the latest clothes, make-up, and accessories, and still feel worthless and unattractive. How I wish they would see that God did not just created us, He FORMED us. It is up to us to take care of our bodies and maintain them well, not to cut and tuck and change what He made. How I wish the girls and women of today would plant their high heels firmly on the ground and say, "MY beauty comes from my relationship with Jesus. MY marriage stays hot because we have the Author of Love in the center of our relationship."
A word to brides.... YES, it is your day. YES, I know you want to look BEAUTIFUL! But do not fall for the lie of this world. Your beauty comes with from Christ. It comes only from your closeness to our King. Perfect the inner beauty and the intimate relationship with Him, and you will be one radiantly beautiful bride!....no cutting involved!
Proverbs 31:30
"Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised."
It's sad to say, but this is so true! I hate to see how low people sink just to "fit-in" and look their "best". I remember when I had Elainea, and a few weeks later I was pregnant again, I cried countless times. I was so overwhelmed by the state my body was left in after having a baby. I thought, again? Before I have time to tone myself and get rid of these stretch marks? Well, God put a stop to that kind of thinking right quick. Now, after having my two bundles of joy, I see the blessings in it. Pregnancy, changes... All of the dark circles under my eyes are from me cuddling up with Larry at two a.m. for a feeding. All of the stretch marks are from me growing my precious bundles that God created. Why would someone think they have to rid their selves of that?? God doesn't make mistakes, why change who you are?
ReplyDeleteYou ladies are right on! Many of us fall into the trap of lies that Satan and his tool Hollywood and magazines, etc., etc......want us to believe. I've been there, most of us have at one time swallowed those lies. Many of us have made decisions based on them too that we wish we could go back and change. Alas, there is no rewind button. But! Thanks be to God there is forgiveness and renewal! The consequences of handling things the wrong way are long and hard at times, and affect so many that you wish it had not, but God is good and He is our hope for repair and healing. Note: Ladies, please dont put your value in your outer appearance, your ability to attract, for these are signs of weakness that may have been brought on by those who Satan has used to hurt your heart. It is hard to understand why people say things to hurt us to make us want to prove to ourselves that we are unfit or not good enough. I still struggle with this at times and I am in my forties! It has taken me this long to figure out that God has made me and (YOU) just the way He wants us. Those who hurt us with words and actions have also been hurt and are lashing out...Unfortunately it is the way of the (sin nature) of man. To those of you who are hurt, let God wipe your tears, see yourself through His eyes. He gives us many scriptures to show us how precious we are in His eyes. Read them, let them permeate your heart! Pass them on to others and encourage them! Male and female both need this, not just females. In a world where the (outer us)is so important, and the voices that are in our heads are so negative, let us draw close to Jesus, for He loves us....HE LOVES US!
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