Ugly Ducklings, Swans & "Real Beauty"

I am lucky enough to get to volunteer with the young women in my church and we were recently talking about "Who We Are & Who We Can Become."  Being teenagers and living in today's world, of course we had to talk about "beauty."  It's so sad to me that in this world our physical appearance has become such an important standard for comparison that people literally spend MILLIONS of dollars a year trying to change the way God made them.  And "looks" aren't even REAL BEAUTY...

Real beauty is moral character.
Real beauty is charity.
Real beauty shows through the light in your eyes because you are truly happy, because you know you are trying your best, and that IS good enough.(I didn't always believe that.)
Real beauty is compassion in all circumstances.
Real beauty is honesty and humility in any situation.
Real beauty cannot be bought, tucked, or implanted.
Real beauty is someone who walks with their head held high because they know who they are, who they can become, and they conciously work on becoming that person. 
Real beauty is trying again even when you mess up.
Real beauty is courage.
Real beaty is love, even for YOURSELF, the way you are RIGHT NOW.

I mentioned the Dove Evolution Commercial to comment on how every image we see in magazines has been edited- every one!  I know this because I edit every picture in my albums, at least for color.  In fact, Julia Roberts will not let a magazine publish a picture of her unless it has been edited enough which is why a European country wouldn't publish a spread of advertisements with her in them- they actually have laws against publishing pictures that have been edited too much in other countries!!! But, I digress.

I thought everyone had seen this ad, but I guess when it came out these girls had just learned to ride their bikes, so I had to explain it and email it to them.  Here it is for your viewing...

Crazy.  Too contrast how you might feel after watching this, check out these other two videos.  The first is a beautiful song about the value of women- we have "SO MUCH TO OFFER."  I'm so glad some sweet person made a slideshow to go with it too. 
                                     
Finally, (I love this video clip) in "Our True Identity" there's a short re-telling of The Ugly Duckling.  Just as the ugly duckling learns he is really a swan, WE ARE ALL SWANS. :)  I kmow that because our Heavenly Father made us and He doesn't make ugly ducklings.

Don't ever forget who you are, how important you are, how valuable you are.  You matter.  Luv, Eva