Genesis tells us the story of Creation. God formed man, Adam, out of the dust of the Earth. When Adam found no suitable partner, God put him under a deep sleep, took a rib from his body, and created the woman, Eve. They were both naked and they felt no shame. It wasn’t until the man and woman ate of the forbidden fruit that they became aware of their nakedness and made coverings for themselves.

 

Over time, women have become experts at covering themselves up. We want to be known, but to be known is one of our greatest fears. We take on the labels, attitudes, and stereotypes of society. We find a box and jump feet first into it. Honestly, our fear is that if we reveal our true, authentic selves to this world, will we find ourselves rejected, isolated and alone instead of being received, loved, and appreciated?

 

As women, we not only put on a mask for the outside world, but we often find ourselves retreating from our Heavenly Father, as well. We can easily find refuge in our perceived perfection, maintaining the mirage of having it all together and the illusion of flawlessness. We take on the personification of the woman who can do it all and who has it all. Honestly, though, we are dying on the inside. We are afraid. And not only do our closest friends not know the real us, we don’t even know who we are anymore.

 

To be a young girl, a teenage girl, or an adult woman in today’s society is anything but simple. We are constantly bombarded with images, slogans, perceptions, and unreachable ideals. It is hard to define yourself when everyone else is defining you! The average American female is 5’4” and 140 lbs, with the average female fashion model is 5”11” and 110 lbs. According to Marketdata Enterprises, Americans spend $60 billion annually trying to lose weight. In a report by CNN, they found that 80% of 10-year-old children are afraid of being fat and 42% of 1^st–3^rd grade girls want to be thinner. CNN also reported that 10 million women battle with anorexia and/or bulimia. Drugrehab.com states that 40% of 9-year-old girls and 80% of 13-year-old girls have tried dieting. We have allowed being skinny to become synonymous with happy, content, healthy, accepted, and more attractive. Goldman Sachs estimates that the skin care industry is worth $24 billion and the make-up industry is worth $18 million. They also report that $38 billion is spent annually on hair care products and $15 billion is spent annually on perfumes. The Plastic Surgery Statistics Report for 2014 shows that over 13 million women have had some form of plastic surgery. 

 

We are poking, prodding, changing, correcting, covering up and subjecting ourselves to a made-up ideal of what a woman should and should not look like. As mothers, we degrade ourselves in front of daughters, which only cements what TV and magazine ads have to say about women: we need to look a certain way to be valuable. It gives our sons the wrong impression, as well, that they need to find a girl that fits this unrealistic model created by the entertainment industry. Our bras are padded, our lips are injected, and our eye color is changed with contacts. We can’t go to the store without our “face” on. We exhaust ourselves to look, act, and behave accordingly. Our daughters are developing a love/hate relationship with food and their bodies. They find themselves not measuring up to society’s standards. Who have we become?

 

Eve was handmade, fashioned together by her Heavenly Father. He saw her.  She was free. She was naked. She was seen and she was accepted. Father God also fashioned YOU. In His eyes, you are perfection. We are born naked. We are born free of unreasonable ideals and perceptions; we are in competition with no one. Through our experiences, through the expectations of those around us, through the media and our culture, we begin to cover up. We become what is supposedly “required.” We become what we think others need us to be. We long to be loved and accepted. 

 

I am by no means suggesting that make-up, weight loss, clothes, or plastic surgery in and of themselves are wrong or evil. What I am suggesting is that we investigate the root behind these choices that we, as women, make. Are we being true to ourselves? Do we do what we do from a place of love for ourselves or to get love from others? 

 

You cannot cover up your external self and think that won’t carry over to your internal self. Where we stand on political, social, and religious issues can just as easily become conformed to societal standards. We want to fit in, we want to belong.

But Jesus was not a conformist. He didn’t have anything that society would have suggested that we should desire: he wasn’t rich, he wasn’t glamorous, and surely, he wasn’t liked by everyone. He was Himself. He lived in a place of authenticity. He knew who He was. He knew He was loved and accepted by His Heavenly Father.

 

We should live from that same place.

 

We are daughters of God, chosen and loved by Him. He gave us a mind, a body, a soul, and the freedom to choose. Daughters, stand up, be counted, be heard, and stop conforming! See the world through the eyes of your Father. Begin to form your own thoughts and break free from stereotypes. Stand for what you believe in and what you are passionate about. Live in a place of freedom. You are who God says you are; you are what He says about you. We find our identity in Him. There is nothing wrong with being naked! It’s all in our minds: fears and unattainable standards that have been imposed on us.

 

God knows us and loves us, unconditionally.

 

We do a disservice to ourselves and to those around us by being someone other than who we were created to be. We don’t have to be afraid. We are already known by our Father, so it’s time we let ourselves be known by those around us.