Camera Lies

Just getting back into the swing of things after having four kids home for spring break, and  I’m paging through a tabloid I was embarrassed to purchase. But I took the bullet for my blog.
Here’s the front cover:


Ok—couple  observations/comments on the mixed messages we girls receive every day:
I’m gonna to start with a confession. Obviously these women are too skinny and terribly unhealthy. But when I first paged through the magazine, I felt a little jealous of their self-control when it comes to eating. Sick, right? They look like skeletons and I don’t want to be a skeleton. But I also don’t want to binge on the Easter candy that’s still in my pantry, so I wonder how they’re able to just say no.
There are six pages in the magazine with pictures of women who are near-death-skinny. There are also six ads in the magazine for weight loss supplements—five that take up the entire page.
Katie Holmes is pictured twice in the magazine. One for being grotesquely thin, and the other for looking beautiful and revamping her image on the cover of Allure Magazine. The caption reads: Katie is sexing it up.
Jessica Alba is also pictured twice. One for being anorexic and under 100 lbs, and the other for her new book called The Honest Life. Hm.
There’s a blurb about how John Mayer broke up with Katie Perry because she’s gained a few pounds.
There are before and after pictures celebrating Christina Aguilera’s weight loss.
Before and after pics showing weight gain.
Best dressed, worst dressed, contests for who wore what best.
Beauty tips. What’s in. Who’s wearing what’s in. What’s out. Which celeb is wearing what’s out.
Blech. I need to scrub my eyes. And by eyes, I mean my mind. Because in spite of all the mixed messages, this magazine and countless others communicate one main thing: you’re not good enough. And my goodness, if the most beautiful women in the world are starving themselves to be prettier, what hope is there for us normal folk? The answer is none. Unless, of course, we stop fixating on the mirror, and choose instead to fix our gaze on the one who is actually beautiful.

 One thing I ask from the Lord,
    this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
    and to seek him in his temple.Psalm 27:4