Letting Go of the Barbie Mentality and the Lies

      Here are a few of my memories and thoughts about Barbie. When I was young I owned several barbies. At the time I thought Barbies were beautiful toys with beautiful hair, colored eyes, and skin color. I do remember I began with one barbie and at some pointed accumulated on too many. And I will confess that a family member purchased, in my young eyes a "hot pink and super cute" limo when really it was a materialistic Pepto-Bismol piece of plastic with four wheels! Yes a Barbie and her Pepto-Bismol colored vehicle are not awful toys, but I have picked up on one message Barbie sent to our culture.
     Now looking back, I do believe the "cute" look and idea of having a barbie and accessorizing her is really a message and comment on our culture. Barbie was believed to be a strong and yet fierce-plastic representation of what a woman ought to look like and be like...yuck! How sad that some of us have at some point bought into the lie of what beauty is or ought to look like and it takes us back to a I am not at all familiar with the way in which Barbie progressed or "grew up," but its so intense. Yes, she's a plastic doll, but there is something deeper here, something very heavy about the message and the power behind this tan piece of plastic. Without doing any researching on the production, accessories, and life of Barbie and what she "offered" young girls of the generation in which she was produced I do believe a few things about Barbie.
     Barbie developed and changed. Barbie was all about the pinkest, the cutest, the newest, the boldest, the biggest, and the better "it" item. Barbie was on the go. Barbie was all about dropping everything she was doing to pursue the biggest and newest thing.
      This whole idea and thinking was revealed to me I believe by the Holy Spirit while I was driving in the car and today. I was driving in the car and this woman very quickly and obviously zoomed by me and in frustration and a certain degree of surprise I said aloud, "see ya later Barbie!" I honestly was so surprised that I said that, I have no idea where that came from, obviously my heart. And then I though to myself, why in the world did I call her, "Barbie," and then it hit me, Barbie is always so on the go and all about whats next.
       I know that I am a busy college student and our culture is all about having a plan, knowing whats next, and being on the go. I don't want to be so into what is next in life that I forsake and miss out on the right now. I want to make the most of the beautiful and blessed present.  I often do have a Barbie mentality and I want to rest in Jesus where I am and take one step at a time. In everything I want to be in step with the Holy Spirit and I want to walk with my Dad in every season. I'll pray that He helps me to let go of the Barbie mentality and the lies.