Elna Baker’s older sister, Tina, was gorgeous.
Elna was not.
Tina was the kind of woman that, when she walked by, people stopped whatever they were doing and stared in awe at her body.
Elna was the kind of woman that, when she walked by, people stopped whatever they were doing and made rude jokes about her body.
Tina got all the family’s beauty genes.
Elna could never fit into skinny jeans.
In America, every school makes a yearbook every year. It has pictures of every student and teacher and a summary of the year’s activities. When the yearbooks come out, all the kids go around signing and writing witty little messages in each other’s yearbooks: “Best friends 4ever,” and “Thanks for the memories,” and stuff like that. One year, one of the most popular boys in the school wrote a message in Tina’s yearbook: “How come you’re so pretty and Elna isn’t?” Another boy in Elna’s grade wrote: “I wish your sister looked like you.”
Elna tried to get even. She left a snarky message in their yearbooks: “You will regret your comment in my sister’s yearbook next year when you beg to go out with me. Of course, I will refuse.” Except Elna never got to refuse them because they never asked her, ever.
When Elna was twelve, her family took a trip to Morocco. When they were walking through an outdoor market, a carpet salesman saw Tina walk by and did the standard stop-whatever-you’re-doing-and-stare-at-Tina thing. Then, he caught up to the family and said with his face all aglow: “Your daughter is the most beautiful creature on earth. I will give you 1,000 camels for her.”
Her parents smiled and said, “No thanks.”
Then the man, looked at Elna, and his face changed. He said, half walking away, “I’ll give you 100 camels for her.”
At the young age of 12, Elna processed this moment and said to herself, “There is a 900 camel difference between my sister and me.”
More than a decade later, telling her story in Elle Magazine, Elna said, “The rest of my life can be described as a pursuit to be worth more camels.” Despite love from her parents and the constant message from her church that her body is “a temple of the Holy Spirit,” the world was beating another message into her: because of the way she looked, she was worth less.
Elna’s pursuit to be worth more camels led her to seek her worth in writing, acting, and comedy. But eventually it also led her to extreme dieting and to radical plastic surgery. All to be worth more camels.
That’s just like us. What do you do to be worth more camels? Exercise, work more, get degrees, write papers, pursue awards, horde power, go on dates, dream of dates, travel to all the cool places, make witty Facebook posts, play political games, criticize others? Where does your pursuit of camels lead you? How is that working out for you? Do you like who you are in this pursuit? Would you recommend your way of life to your kids?
Ephesians 3:
14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
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