Anyone who knows me knows I have a love affair with being blonde. Ask my hair dresser.

I went blonde for the first time in high school, and it's been an epidemic ever since.

For six years, my hair has been every color, but I always manage to go back to having at least some degree of blonde in my hair. (thank God for balayage)

At some point, though, having blonde hair or even just some blonde IN my hair stopped being a chemical process that I was doing and instead became evidence of an identity crisis. Ask 95% of my loved-ones and they will say they prefer me with my natural brunette locks over blonde. But, I could never let it go.  

In college, the love affair was at it's strongest. I was bleaching (and ruining) my hair with hair dyes from a box, tanning way too much (to the point where someone called me Snooki), and experiencing the reemergence of my bulimia that I struggled with in high school. I was desperate to become this tan, blonde, skinny version of myself that I thought would make me happy. What's sad is this story of mine is so common in other girls and women that it's almost laughable. 

I have always wanted to be this hot, popular version of myself that all the girls would want be to be and all the guys would want to have. The struggle continues into adulthood; the image just changes. Now, I want to be perceived as this successful, driven woman who has it all together. While all my friends gain promotions, get married, and start families, I want to be perceived as someone who has it all on lock, even without a husband and kids and 6 figure salary. 

This message has been talked and written about so many times, but I believe it's one that bears repeating over and over and over again.

At the end of the day, I AM MORE. So are you. At the end of the day, YOU ARE MORE.

Ladies, you are more than what you weigh, what you wear, what your relationship status is, how many carats your diamond engagement ring is, how well-behaved your toddlers act in public, and whether or not your home looks like Chip and Joanna just refurbished it.  

Men, you are more that the income you make, what your bench max is, how many shots you can drink, how much your  car is worth, and how great of an athlete you were in high school. 

WE ARE ALL MORE. We are more than whatever it is we think we need to portray to this world. 

We were created in the image of the most powerful, living, loving God!

Pslam 139: 13-16

13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
    you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
    I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
    you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
    before I’d even lived one day.

We were made to be Image-Bearers of the One who made us. We are loved. We are valued. We are more. 

We weren't made to fit the narrow standards of this world.  

I'm not rich. So what?

I don't look like a fitness model. Who cares?

I'm not in a relationship, engaged, or married. Your point?

I don't have long, flowing blonde mermaid hair. Cool, I'll survive.  

Image is important, to a degree. Just remember whose image we were created to reflect. 

Blonde hair was, at one point, the epitome of success to me. If I was blonde, I was one step closer to being the ultimate, acceptable version of myself that this world would love.

Whatever your "blonde hair" struggle is, just remember - YOU ARE MORE.  

Sarah Tiller

SUMMER SHAKE UP SERIES
GATHER HER || 08.10.17
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