Who's Driving?
/Lately, I have focused pointedly on vanity. The expression, the sound, the posture, and the path it forms in the lives that are driven by it. Over time I’ve alarmingly seen how it produces outward beauty but inward destruction. Nothing has changed folks; its agenda is still the same. Vanity is still (often quietly) destructive, even as the masses give way to it in their social media engagement. I am not declaring social media as vanity or evil, rather I’m acknowledging social media as one of many avenues vanity works through.
Whenever I deeply ponder a principle, idea, or practice I aim to gather comprehensive understanding. I begin with dictionary and scriptural definitions to make sure the data I collect can be placed upon a foundation. The dictionary defines vanity as: “excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements”. Since the word pride exists within vanity’s definition I’ll define this word as well. Pride: “a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired”. Lastly, let’s read the definition of “appearance”: the way that someone or something looks”. If we combine these three definitions, a description of vanity could be read in this way:
Vanity is an excessive pleasure or satisfaction
derived by one’s own achieving
of
the way they look.
Deep breath.
Currently, I am in between pregnancies. My body has experienced several transitions within the last three years. By God’s grace, I’ve experienced three full pregnancies and three blessed deliveries in three years! As I write this I am 5 months post-delivery and my body continues to heal and restore each day. Also, each day I learn more about how to be the mommy my three small children want and need. It’s indisputable that good stewardship of whole health in the midst of life’s changes and requirements happens when simple, planned, and meaningful daily disciplines are practiced. In weeks to come I will share daily health disciplines for the body, soul, and spirit.
Okay, back to vanity. Wholly Healthy inspires people to eliminate the pattern of training and nourishing the body while abusing the soul. Internal conflict can manifest as pursuing external achievement. When we feel a lack of internal security for whatever reason we're prone to seek acceptance for our external display of appearance, talents, accomplishments, etc. From a lifetime of listening I’ve heard countless remarks from people who say their soul feels better when their body looks “good”, according to their perception of good. The problem with this way of operating is that if someone’s soul health follows their self-perception of their body looking “good” they could spend their life suffering in their soul because they weren’t able to accomplish with their body what they desired.
Something I continue to learn-because of my natural inclinations-is that in seasons of purposeful change and shifting it’s best not to give energy to fastening or positioning “things” under my (sense of) control. They’re shifting for a purpose, and it’s best I not get in the way. When external shifting affects our souls and we feel vulnerable, it’s common for us to look for any thing we can control. But when our souls feel out of control and vulnerable we must resist striving for achievement with our bodies to derive security from our appearance. If this pattern is evident in our lives, we’ll constantly look for external reinforcement for security and find we’ve attributed our (longed for) security to our appearance. This is where vanity preys but peace within helps us overcome. Jesus said in John 14:27, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”
Recently, I heard an idea in my mind coming from the voice of temptation. It sounded something like this: “You can make your body look any way you want between now and your next pregnancy”. The image that flashed with the thought was that image. That image each of us hold within, the image of our ideal physique that’s been formulated over the course of our lives. That image we find appealing-tight here, round there, soft here, firm there, colored this way, textured that way, and so on. Then team temptation began chattering. “All you have to do is live hungry and strength train. You’ve been there before, you can do it again.” “Then people will praise you, they’ll envy your appearance, they’ll applaud your hard work, they’ll gaze jealously over your beauty, or even better-desire you and treat you better because of the look you’ve achieved”.
What I know as I type these words, at age 31, is that these ideas don’t have to become my thoughts and do not represent me. The vanity agenda wants these ideas to stay in a secret swirl within until we succumb and allow them to infiltrate our motivations. But when we make it known and separate ourselves from it, we get free and the agenda fails.
“Vanity is trying to get in your heart and mine through our thoughts to distort motives of the masses making us distracted from purpose, unfulfilled by superficiality, and toxically co-dependent and in competition with each other.”
Ladies and gentlemen, I’m calling it out. I’m calling out this specific temptation that comes knocking for many of us. When I call it out, or any of us do, we make it known and separate ourselves from it instead of becoming entangled. Vanity, and other evil schemes, want for ideas to become thoughts, thoughts to become beliefs, beliefs to become desires, desires to become ideals, ideals to become needs, and needs to become priorities. This progression from idea to priority is aimed to impact our entire way of existing from the inside, out. The Bible reads in Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” The ideas we personalize enter into our hearts and drive our lives. Don't give vanity the keys.
