The Lie of Thin

Walking down the street

All the beautiful people I meet

Perfect, toned, and sleek

With the devil beneath their feet.

Believe it or not, there was a time when I thought I was beautiful. Long ago before the lie ever set in, I could look in the mirror and not be ashamed of what I saw. My reflection was simply my reflection. I had brown hair and big brown eyes. My best friend had blonde hair and blue eyes, and that was just the way it was. I never even thought things could-or should- be different.

Until the lie swept into my life, leaving traces of itself everywhere I looked.

I don’t have an exact date, time, or place. In fact, I can’t even tell you when it happened. All I know is that one day the little girl in the mirror was no longer fascinated with the girl on the other side. Beauty died somewhere between make-believe and real life. Reality stepped in, took her by the hand, and led her down an unpaved road. The journey started out wondrous and new, but pretty soon the woods became just a little too dark, the fog a little too thick, the breeze a little too cold.

The lie swept in with the wind, and my view of myself changed in an instant.

Instead of reflecting truth, the image in my mirror reflected what I thought of myself. Cold eyes replaced warm, friendly ones. Fear replaced the expression of security. The body I saw in the mirror reflected the feelings I held of myself on the inside.

My eating disorder developed on the wings of the lie. The moment I looked into the mirror and believed that I was no longer acceptable was the moment I opened the door to my eating disorder. Hearing the lie was not breaking point; believing the lie was.

You see, when we begin to believe the lie that we are not good enough, we search for ways to prove our worth. We think that by changing our bodies we will gain beauty and acceptance. We think that conforming to someone else's definition of beauty will prove the lie wrong.

Only the lie remains.

It whispers that thin is better than health, relationships, and all the values we used to hold dear. It pushes us toward extremes we would have never considered before. It infatuates us until we cannot help but to believe. And once we begin to believe, it knows it finally has you. Because you will fight for what you believe in.

I have no doubt that the devil is behind the lie. Having studied human beings since the beginning of creation, he figured out long ago that we are hooked once we believe the lie. Adam and Eve proved it in experiment one, and we continue to prove it today. Belief will change one's life, for better or for worse.

Jesus referred to the devil as "the father of lies" (John 8:44). He started lying in the beginning, and he continues on to this day. His passion is to divert our attention to his lies and reign us in with belief, for he knows that the moment we look in the mirror and say, "THAT'S my truth" is the moment we grab his hand and follow him.

The devil knows the power of the lie; we do not.

Every thought has the potential to build or destroy. Are you going to believe the truth? Or are you going to give up your life to the lie?

That's a decision you and I have to make everyday.