Ben Wilson, LPC

I use Dove's Body Wash for Men. Why? Even though it's more expensive than some I like how they are trying to combat the illusions of beauty, counterfeit beauty. 

Keep in mind for us to fall for the counterfeit there has to be a God given longing to experience beauty. I certainly don't want to limit beauty to female appearances, but that is what it is often reduced to. Not that females aren't beautiful and touch a place deep in the soul. But beauty comes from a creator who isn't limited by our gender. Beauty and the longing to be a part of beauty go far beyond what we generally appreciate. 

Take a look at this from C.S. Lewis,

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

So it is with settling for air brushed, distorted, fake Photoshop created women. We are far too easily pleased. This video has been around for a while, but it still communicates great truth. Click on this link to see how false, shallow beauty is created. 

Dove Evolution

This afternoon I drove home following the Willow Creek Leadership Summit video feed in Columbia, then dinner with my son. The sun was low in the sky. It wasn't so low that it was like a golf ball teed up on top of the trees. It was a little higher, like a giant orange baseball throttled by Albert Pujols into the left field upper deck. I reached Rocheport, MO and the bridge over the Missouri River that connects Boone and Cooper counties. I glanced up the river to the north where the 'baseball' illuminated the water. My soul was stilled as the reddish/orange/golden water slid south as the end of the day drew nigh. A sunset over water...it gives my soul pause, my lips upward mobility and my heart outward expansion. It was a holiday at sea kinda moment. 

False beauty is about self-centered consumption and illusion in the heart. True beauty is about receiving from a creator who longs to bless and share the real, fullness of his glory. 

Where do you settle for mud pies as you long to connect with the beauty of your creator?