Beauty- In the Eye of the friggen Beholder!

So, at church today, we had a lesson on Satan's various ways of tempting people and leading them astray. It was such a good lesson in so many ways, and I definitely enjoyed it. The thing is though, something was brought up and I realize that although, I am slightly taking it out of context, I felt compelled to address this particular issue.

One of the things that was mentioned in being one of Satan's tools was vanity. Now I realize that there are many people out there who take vanity to another level... (Ehem, Heidi Montag!) what with plastic surgery and people spending hours and hours each day to make themselves look like an artificial variation of themselves- and I do believe this is what our teacher was leaning toward...

However, I do not feel that taking half hour to an hour each day to look your best is necessarily a bad thing. I am not bringing this up specifically due to the lesson today, it has come up a few times lately (and not in a very flattering way either...).

I am irritated that people who take time to have their nails done, or get their highlights touched up, or even those who just take the time to look like they didn't just roll out of bed- are being attacked lately. And probably this has been going on for a long time, but it seems like it has been brought up to me tons in the past couple weeks.

I have had clients tell me that they need to color their hair darker to be taken more seriously. I have been told by a few people that they have to wear plainer clothes so they blend in with their co-workers better. I have had clients rag on people they know because they let their toddlers get their nails painted or their hair straightened/curled from time to time. I myself have been labeled high maintenance a number of times simply because I take the time to do my hair and make up once in a while.

People! Really?! I feel like in this day and age there is NOTHING wrong with trying to look our best. I am not saying that we all need to be beauty queens- I am far from that. All I am saying is, we have got to stop putting each other down for stupid things!!!

I realize that I am slightly more touchy about this due to the industry I work in, after all, if people stop caring about their appearance I am out a job. I just honestly feel like it is not that big of a deal for us be proud of our appearance.

And here is my dirty little confession- I actually paint Grace's nails quite a bit... and I even straighten her hair sometimes! Paint me materialistic, but I feel like it not only teaches Grace to not look like a slob, but the time we spend together actually feels like a bonding experience. And I dare someone to find fault in that!