Smokes and Mirrors
In my class today, the professor was telling us how her daughter wanted a $600 prom dress because her friends said they were getting $600-800 dresses. The professor obviously was not going to drop that much on a prom dress, the most she would give her daughter was $300. That’s still quite a bit of money in my opinion. Anyway, it just made me think how people can feel significantly better about themselves just by what they wear. It’s interesting that a piece of clothing can be given so much value and that value becomes attached to its wearer. What is the actual difference between a $600 prom dress to a $300 one or a borrowed one? Nothing, except to those who know the monetary value, which is pretty arbitrary in most cases.
These thoughts led me to ponder how we easily identify ourselves externally, as opposed to internally, in our culture. It creeps up on us without us realizing it. Our self-esteem is proportional to all these external factors: how we look, the stuff we have, the things we do, etc. I want to identify myself by who I am without these outside definitions. I want to be free of external controls and begin to live life from the inside outward. Sometimes it’s hard to see what is true about myself, the layers of external influence can be quite imbedded. But God knows who I truly am, He lives inside me and He believes in me. Internal control. When I come to know Jesus, I see as He sees.
“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12.
