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| Miss Teens and the Girls |
It never gets old. During my time and still today; every
girl wants to be a princess. Every girl wants to be beautiful. Every girl wants
to touch, hug, and be Miss Teen/ Namibia. We grew up believing that being
crowned with a beauty pageant title means the world to a young woman. Like Snow
White you become “the fairest of them all” not really knowing the cost behind
that pretty face and figure.
Don’t get me wrong: there is nothing wrong with Physical
beauty; looking back at my pre-teen years though; I wished there
was someone who could have been honest and open with me to tell me as a young
girl that good looks is not all there is nor is it our true identity, but there
is a much more greater beauty that goes beyond good looks and skin itself. A beauty
that doesn’t age or fade away but rather forever more is being renewed. A
beauty that doesn’t cost money or cosmetics to enhance it and that God himself
considers it to be special and delights in it.
It is the type of beauty that produces and bears effective and contagious
fruits. And only a few finds it when
guided well.
I watched as my girls jump for joy.
“Ms. Josua.” They exclaimed. “I just want to look like her
one day, so beautiful!”
I could see myself in these little girls. Once young, beauty
pageants stirred up the same desires within me. I mean who wouldn’t want to look
like a super model?
Beautiful, tall, and thin.
They want to have their bodies, their smiles, and their clothes. Oh, how
expensive it is to be beautiful!
Funny, a few minute later some of the girls came up to me and gave me
early valentines’ love cards. And as they leaned into hug me. I thought to
myself: here you are, you already got
it inside of you. A heart of love and kindness. This is beauty right here.
Without a brush of makeup. It’s all crystal-clear clear! I looked at them straight in the eyes and said
it honestly;
“You don’t have to
join a beauty pageant in order for you to know that you are beautiful. You are
beautiful, just the way you are and you don’t need a Miss teen crown to confirm
that for you.”
And there it was, twinkles in the eyes and bright smiles
across their faces, they needed to hear it and hear it every day just like every
girl out there. I have nothing against Miss Teen and I wouldn’t keep a child
from dreaming big unless those dreams are building upon false hope and wrong
understanding. I will not have them fall prey and believe the same lie I once
believed for so long to be true. Of course I know that they will have to learn
much more and make certain choices as they go on in life. But it’s better to
sow the first seed now which is part of laying the foundation. There is a way to
be beautiful and be a true princess without being ranked according to the
worldly standards. And I believe every
young girl and woman should be taught this simple truth. A beauty that comes from within, the unfading
beauty of a gentle and quite Spirit, which is so precious to God.
( 1Peter 3:4)
I learned this truth just at the right
time, through an amazing woman who cared enough to let me know and it surely changed
my life tremendously, therefore I will not hold it back from my girls. After
all it is by knowing the truth that we are set free.
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| Admiring Miss Teen |
