Beautiful.
Wildly successful.
An international sex symbol.
Still today... An international sex symbol...
Men wanted her.
Women envied her.
She made millions through her career in entertainment.
Some of the most famous men in the world, during that time, dated her.
She was a dream girl.
We want to be dream girls too? Don't we?
As I was preparing to speak at the Beauty Arise breakfast on the topic of "Contentment in Christ", I was realizing that there are 3 primary things that girls/women often look to in order to find contentment.
Beauty. (physical appearance)
Success. (often measured by money and the opinions of others)
Relationships. (dating, flirting, marriage, sex)
I see it all the time.
We are aching.
Quietly looking for some kind of fulfillment and satisfaction. && In our attempt to quench the thirst in our hearts we go searching.
Our hunt for contentment might start with our bodies... Losing weight, coloring our hair, tanning, whitening our teeth, new makeup... The cycle begins. Exercise. Dieting. Some smoke so they don't eat. Some run to energy drinks. Caffeine. Coffee. All veggie diet. Vegan. Paleo. Low carb. High protein. Soy. No soy. Whole milk. No dairy. Obsession. Shopping. Striving. Attempting to derive joy from sculpting our bodies to fit the world's mold of "beauty". We might reach the standard of beauty. We might not. But either way... The longing for something more still lingers.
So we move on. Success. Money. Degrees. Certificates. Higher education. More money. Impressing others. Living by their praise... dying by their rejection. Straining to be the best. Working late. Waking early. Guessing how they see us... Hoping that they like us... Temporarily satisfied by their compliments, but ultimately still seeking a more deeply rooted sense of security.
So we decide that the answer must be found in men. We flirt. We date. We give ourselves away. He likes brunettes. We become a brunette. Oh he likes blondes? We get highlights. He loves sports. We change our Facebook status, "Watching the game!" Distracted from life. He is always on our mind. We hang out where he might be. We befriend his sister. Do whatever possible to present ourselves as his favorite girl... Only to find that he has eyes for a different girl... So we go try to be someone else's girl. Maybe we find the man to call our own. The emotional high is electric. But eventually the familiarity leads us into discontentment... And ultimately we diagnose that the real reason for the loneliness we still feel... Is that we simply picked the wrong man. So we set off to find the right one. And the pattern continues.
It's so interesting because as I was thinking about these issues Marilyn Monroe came to mind.
She had beauty. Lots of it. The world praised her for it.
She had success. Her fame and fortune confirm that.
She had relationships. Married 3 times. Dated men like Frank Sinatra.
She had everything we could ever want.
Yet she struggled deeply with depression. And at 36 she killed herself.
Clearly these things...
beauty
success
&& relationships
can't make us content.
They may bring a sense of joy.
But it will be fleeting.
The only true, genuine, real hope for contentment that we have is found in the living God.
Jesus Christ. The hope of glory.
"This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory." Colossians 1:26-27
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