Finding Faith ... in understanding our actual true worth as a child of God

NunAit, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The other evening, I stopped by our youngest daughter's room just to say hello and check in with her.

Upon entry, I saw her seated before her makeup desk, dutifully applying what in the moment I could only describe as catepillar slime to her forehead. I asked why one would theoretically apply catepillar slime to one's forehead, and she gave me the quintessential teenage, "you know monthing" look, and exclaimed: "It's called skin care, Dubby!" (That is what she and her sister have called me since they were little and the "V" in my name was a bit tricky.)

I shrugged, thought it was weird, and moved on. ... Until today.

Coincidentally, in my morning persual of various news sites I came across a CNN story titled "Gen-Z is already worried about looking old," which informed me that young people who already are only in their teens now are worried about signs of aging, such as the ... duh, duh, duh ... dreaded aging line!

And I bet you can even guess why without me giving you a single clue! ... Yup, they want to look good for their phones. ... Look good for the 'Gram!

From the story: "Thanks to Instagram, TikTok and, of course, Zoom, people are spending more time than ever looking at their own faces." ... And if you are going to live your life vicariously through your phone, then your most important asset is your face. ... Thus skin perfection, these young people have convinced themselves, is paramount.

Consider this from the story: "Botox start-up Peachy said Gen-Z is its fastest-growing cohort. Earlier this year, in a dramatic example of the trend, a TikTok titled 'Things I do to slow the aging process as a 14 year old' went viral."

This wouldn't sadden me so much if I hadn't put more stock in this generation's growing acceptance of body positivity, the belief that each individual's body is beautiful in whatever shape, form or color in which it comes. In fact, I was quite proud of young people for their progressiveness in moving our society forward in terms of helping people to grow comfortable in their own bodies and to make the shaming of unique bodies bad form.

But it turns out that being comfortable in our bodies ... and comfortable in our skin ... are two different stories.

Evidently our young people are human after all, and they possess just as many foibles and hangups as we do. They're just different foibles and hangups. ... Just when I thought we as the collective human race were transforming in a positive direction about our images, I find out that we have teenagers whose vanity has them obssessing over what aging will do to their faces.

Skin care industry advocates argue that this trend is about slowing down the aging process, rather than correcting problems later said a Paris-based dermatologist in CNN's story. But that industry shill also noticably didn't mention that: "The volume of skin care or beauty products referencing anti-aging rose 10 percent over the past two years, according to Trendalytics. Searches for sunscreen have more than tripled, and there are nearly three times as many sunscreen products on the market today compared to three years ago."

This is big business -- as in "b" ... as in billions. ... And the truth is that this age's skin care industry and its paid influencers can convince today's youth of the need to altar themselves just as easily as the cosmetics and fashion industries have convinced youth since the dawn of advertising that they somehow needed to stay young and beautiful. ... It's the same song and dance that our Western culture obssessed with youth and beauty has boughten into for generations.

The tragedy is that we can preach all we want that we are made in the image of our Creator, which should be enough to convince us of our self worth and innate value, but its the beauty industry and social pressure that we actually listen too. And it seems that another young generation has taken the bait as well.

To understand how God feels about us, we just need to look to our scriptures. ... So how about: "19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Our bodies are so important to the one who created us, that God calls them temples, meaning that our bodies are holy. ... In other words, there isn't anything we're going to do to improve upon God's handiwork.

But that is a hard lesson to learn for many of us who are concerned with our appearances, and even harder to come to terms with when you are young and obssessed with being accepted and fitting in.

I guess now heaped on top of the many other worries I have about my children, I need to include their obssession with preventing themselves from looking older ... even though they are teenagers. ... As if there already weren't enough on the worry heap.

Lord, today I pray that you continue to help us understand that because we were created in your image that makes our bodies holy, and thus there's nothing we can do to improve upon your work. ... Amen.