Victory is Calling

Decaying self-image and the pit of lust
Addressing these issues is an absolute must
But I'm beaten down by the message of society
That every man struggles and no girl feels pretty
Maybe it's the saturation that's making us weak
Not the said struggle that we so often speak
Over males and females respectively
The cycle gains momentum effectively
But let me speak for men- they are not all pigs
If more women believed that
We'd be less concerned with our figs
The models wear so little and it makes your heart so brittle
Will not eat a single skittle
Because you aim to please
I'm telling you this sleaze
Is not consuming all men of god
It's not all about your bod
Tell me who we are assisting
By women speaking and persisting
That all women feel doubt
Cuz of what males think about
Lets build each other up
And the cycles just might subside
We can conquer patterns male and female side by side
"The history of the bikini" doesn't really matter
Manikins getting smaller, women getting fatter
It all comes down to love and how we treat each other
What we believe when we perceive
There's more behind the clutter
Built up by imperfections and shortcomings we ALL display
There's more to me than self esteem
And more to men than wanting one thing

The BAD Neighbor Cycle

..And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31
The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There
is no other commandment greater than these.”

We are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves....but do you love yourself? The world has identified the issue of self acceptance to be a prevalent one and the attempted solutions to overcome it merely fan the flame of self absorption. We do have to master this as a societal downfall, but our plan of attack and the order we go about it is critical. To love
yourself you have to know yourself. To know yourself and understand
your identity you have to be in relationship with others because God
designed to live in community. The world says- to know and love
yourself, focus on you. Christ in us says- Get your focus outward and
your identity (christ in you) is revealed. We will find ourselves in a destructive  maze when we confuse the starting point. Not only do we seek to understand and love ourselves first, but it's our image that we so foolishly  work to present that can easily consume us from the outside in. Do you love yourself, defined by Christ in you, or do you love a self made version of God's intentional and original design? Begin with love- then identity, servant hood, and transformative relationships will follow as the fruit of His spirit working in you. When we reach out, He brings out what He designed within.

The M A S K

Never more beautiful than what it hides,
It's the manifestation of what we despise.
When our imperfections and brokeness abound,
A genuine reflection is scarcely found.
Relying on others to decide we're approved,
The mask is concealed and no calluses removed.
But what if you realized that what's underneath,
Is a perfect version of who you're to be?
He's not the God of image, he created souls,
but we perfect an illusion thinking we'll be whole.
Our genuine self easily compromised.
A once empty vessel, now filled with lies.
I promise there is hope within this reflection,
If you open your eyes to the beauty of imperfection.
God set our hearts on the kingdom unseen,
from the world's standards- we want to be free.
Healing is coming but its not for your sake,
others are exhausted from feeling hidden and fake.
What if a chain reaction took place
masks were removed as we met face to face?
We'd see the beauty and also the pain
but the striving and fronting would not be maintained.
We all have our issues but there's more than getting free,
He's been victorious now others we'll reach
The point of transparency is to help fellow men,
not to wallow in our flaws again and again.
The first task is knowing how incapable you are,
of wearing a mask more beautiful than scars