The Woman in the Mirror

The former Miss Argentina died yesterday following plastic surgery. The surgery was an elective procedure, reportedly on her buttocks. If it weren't so tragic, there would surely be any number of tasteless jokes being bantered about... There probably are some anyway.

For some reason, this 37-year-old woman felt that she needed to change her looks, and that it was worth whatever minimal risk was involved. She is not alone...

In March of 2008, the awareness of just how dangerous plastic surgery can be was raised when a Florida teen died after corrective breast surgery due to a rare reaction to anesthesia meds given during the "routine surgery".

A fellow blogger- a "nurse turned writer" named Marjike, points out that while complications from plastic surgery are "rare", they do happen. The problem, she says, is that people don't take plastic surgery seriously.

She writes on her blog: "Many people don’t see plastic surgery as “real” surgery. The thing is, it is very real surgery. It involves anesthetic, which has risks of its own, and the procedures – all of which have some risk. Is it worth it? Is this search for never-ending youth worth it? Some people think so."

This, for me, is the crucial question. In 2004, ABC News reported that some 9 million Americans had gone under the knife for some form of plastic surgery during the previous year. Some of those procedures were possibly not just "elective" surgeries, but still, the number is staggering to me. Really? 9 million people who are not happy with the way they look?

Oh, I believe that there are many, many more of us out there who aren't really happy with the way we look. We look in the mirror and see those extra pounds screaming at us, or the wrinkles laughing... Even "beautiful people" sometimes have a difficult recognizing their beauty in the reflection that stares back at them. Any 12-Step program or therapist worth their salt will tell you that you have to become content with the inner beauty or it won't matter how you look... You'll still feel ________________. (Fill in the blank: fat, old, dowdy, worthless...)

As for me, I don't like the extra pounds, and have taken many of them off in the past two years. There are many more still juggling there in the mirror's reflection, but they don't scream quite so loudly. I have come to accept the wrinkles that are laughing at me, although, yes, I use face cream much more regularly these days as the 50th birthday quickly approaches.

Most of all, I am trying to recognize the beautiful woman that God created... the child that He/She "wonderfully and fearfully knit" in my mother's womb. (Psalm 139) For, as the Psalmist says, "God's works are wonderful."

I am the mother of a young teenage girl. So far, when we watch reality shows on TV that feature models, such as "Project Runway" or "America's Next Top Model", we are able to appreciate the way that the "right" hair or makeup can enhance what a woman already has, and talk about how the pressures of that "perfect" body image are a bit ridiculous and somewhat impossible to attain. That's how it is so far, anyway.

And we celebrate how beautifully God has created her, inside and out. God's works are wonderful. Let's help our young girls (and boys) learn that. As the song of my childhood goes: "Jesus loves the little children... red or yellow, black or white, they are precious in His sight..."

When we look in the mirror, may we see that we are each a child of God, and oh, so very precious.