Look around, little one,

and see what this world has become

All around selfie-taking, oh my please!

Duck faces and legs bent at the knees

 

Fluffing hair and swinging heads

all so scared of what is said

and what is done, how they look

all that matters is the picture they took.

 

They filter out all their flaws

And now, dear child, they act so odd

look at them, see no discretion?!

no humility, such depression…

 

It’s growing, thriving deep inside

Because these standards are too high

When they look into the mirror

they don’t see

what they want

Only what COULD be.

 

So they go back to make-believe-world

where what is right is completely unfurled

a life of too many choices, so many pressures

parents gave up, and gave kids the stressers

 

Where pretty is just a flick of the finger

but that’s not real, so you figure

that this silly way they are

is going to crumble from near to far

 

No wonder they struggle with fear

they look for love that’s fake, my dear

and when they try to lean on that

on their face is where they will fall so flat

 

These little kids with expectations

that can’t be met

Are God’s creations

 

And they are beautiful as can be

but they aren’t allowed to see

without a filter, or a blot right here

a little tuck there, so little one I fear

That we are raising a sad breed

of children that are going to need

to put away those stupid phones

and love they way that they have grown.

 

And try to fall in love with the face they see

that’s looking back, right back at me

and is right there, and is so real

will they be able to feel

happy with what’s really there?

 

Oh my goodness, I just stare

with my jaw open at what I see.

I can’t believe it, can it be?

20 minutes for one selfie…

Look around, oh little one,

and see what this world has become.

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I wrote this after spending a weekend away with my husband.  We were relaxing and playing a game of Farkle.  PLEASE tell me you have played that game!  We were surrounded by beautiful mountains, a peaceful golf course, and we were drinking the best coffee ever made.  We were having so much fun.

However, our game was suddenly disrupted by a group of about 5 teen girls who stood 20 feet in front of us.  They each attempted to get a picture of themselves as a group, individual pictures, photos of all angles, heights, depths, duck faces, swinging heads, hair flying, shoulder angles, elbow angles, tall girls squatted, while short ones tippied.  It was completely surreal.  The “Selfie Shocker” lasted for at least 20 minutes.

After the Selfie Shocker was over we sat there with our mouths wide open staring at each other.  Why do people have no shame?  There is no humility anymore.  Vanity has become a disturbing plague.

– this warning comes from http://www.biblegateway.com

Philippians 2:3-11 English Standard Version (ESV)

³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,^{[a] 6} who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,^{[b] 7} but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,^[c] being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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