"You would look great if you lost some weight."

"You need some meat on those bones."

"Have you gained weight?"

"You look like a weakling, you should work out."

"You're short."

"You're too tall."

The voices never stop. From commercials advertising diet pills, new craze diets, and corsets to shape and shrink your midsection to the growing popularity of breast and butt implants, steroids, permanent make-up, and face alterations it is no wonder we aren't comfortable in our own skin. Women are told they must be thin, blonde, tan, and sexy. Men are under the impression they must be tall, muscular, toned, and sexed up. Yet amidst all the screaming messages we also are told to love ourselves. Yet how can you love you if all the voices are telling you of all the things you must do to improve yourself in order for you to be accepted and loved? It's no longer about being pretty smart and pretty kind, it has all become about being sexy, desirable, and forever young. Heaven forbid we show our age, imperfections, flaws, or the scars elaborating our bodies. Perfectionism has become the aim. Yet, when did being imperfect become a bad thing?

In a society so focused on outward appearances, I'm afraid we have lost a very important piece to the puzzle: our character. We spend so much time catering to competition and desirability on a pointless physical scale than we do on growing the soul within us. We've lost who we are because we are solely focused on what we are.

Proverbs 31:30 states: "Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman [man] who fears the Lord is to be praised." Again in 1 Peter 3:3-4 it is said, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

We keep thinking its a surface issue, that if we keep changing our body we just might be happy in our skin, but that isn't the case. It's not a surface issue, this is a core issue deep within the souls of our beings issue. Until we sharpen our character and grow our strength in the true identity of who we are, we will remain dependent upon the voices to tell us who we are rather than He who created us. If a masterful artist knit us in our mothers womb, what right do we have to find fault in his design? How great it is that we are beautiful in His eyes, that in all that He made He looked upon you can called it worthy of Love. You're more than a reflection in the mirror or the numbers on the scale, you are a unique masterpiece intricately designed and adored.

"Beauty fades, but character stays."

Let's build a character worth staying.