Will the Real Barbie Please Stand Up?

I walked on to the world stage the year after the first Barbie doll walked down the runway. I managed to avoid her until I was four, when someone gave her to me for a birthday gift. A couple years later, Ken joined her side, along with a coloring book that introduced me to dating in a convertible, falling in love, walking down the aisle and living happily ever after.

 

My Barbie collection never surpassed the original couple, but some of my friends had enough to put on large skits. We dressed them in robes to act out the Biblical story of the ten virgins with their lamps and then gave them a quick wardrobe change to hot pants and leather boots before meeting up with Ken and his buddies.

 

My curves never developed like Barbie’s.

My hair never kept its bounce like hers.

My clothes were never as trendy as those in her tiny wardrobe box.

 

I didn’t consciously notice her unrealistic standards at the time. But then I rode through the enlightening decades of the 70’s and 80’s and vowed I wouldn’t encourage my own daughter to play with Barbie dolls. But, alas, as she finished up her potty training as a toddler, I rewarded her by letting her pick out a new set of bed sheets for her dry bed. She chose Barbie sheets. Of course, she did. The pink convertible came shortly after.

 

Ok, so you have stumbled into yet another article about the pitfalls of comparison. Because we still haven’t gotten the message, have we? And now the opportunity to compare faces us every time we pick up our phone.

 

If you would like to challenge any sense of inadequacy you may have, here are a couple of filters to apply each time you find yourself playing the comparison game.

 

1)  I am made in God’s image. Does this thing I’m comparing matter to His reflection?

… we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him. [2 Cor 3:18, TLB]

2)    My purpose is to do His work. Does this hinder me from accomplishing that?

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. [Eph 2:10, CSB]

 

If neither of these filters work for you, then go look at one of the computer-generated images of a human with Barbie proportions. Laugh and carry on. [No Barbies were harmed in the writing of this blog.]