Muffin tops. No one likes them. We don’t like to possess them and we don’t like to look at them. In either case, they make us feel uncomfortable.
If you’re not familiar with the term, “muffin top” refers to the parts of the body that hang over or out from the waistband of a pair of pants. There’s no great way to phrase that, is there?
Girls, for us it’s kind of an all-around-the-body type thing. For you guys, it’s generally limited more to the stomach area.
What is a muffin top a sign of? Trying to fit ourselves into something that is not truly us. A size or two too small. We try to squeeze into it because we like what the label tells us. We want to fit in that mold, even if it kills us. So we squeeze and squirm into pants that really just don’t fit. And let’s be honest….we’re not fooling anyone. The fact that we don’t fit into that size is evident by, yes, the muffin top. And the really crazy part is that no one can see the size on the tag any way. So are we just trying to fool ourselves?
Yesterday at our store, a regular client came in. She comes in each week and I find clothes for her that match her style and personality. It’s great fun! Yesterday, I pulled out a couple of things that would have looked amazing on her. But she refused to even try them on because of the size on the label. Even though they would have fit both her body and her personality. The tag was more important to her than the actual outfit. And she passed up the opportunity to enjoy some beautiful clothes that would have been comfortable and representative of her fun nature.
I couldn’t help but think how much the muffin top gives a picture of how we often operate. We think we need to act a certain way, look a certain way, think and respond a certain way in order to “fit in”. We end up trying to cram ourselves into a box that is not our size. The result, like the muffin top, is discomfort. It’s uncomfortable to us because it’s not who we are by nature. Not how God created us to be. But it’s also uncomfortable for others because it’s pretty clear that it’s a bad fit and we come off as insincere, forced, or inauthentic.
No one asks me to wear a certain size of jeans. I do that to myself. If I’m wearing the right size I am more comfortable with myself and am in a better place to be able to focus on others and not on the distraction of a bad fit. And that will put others at ease, too.
Same in life. When I am my authentic self, the person who God created me to be, not worried about trying to be like everyone else and to fit into another’s box, I am relaxed and confident. I am able to put my attention on others instead of myself. People are naturally drawn to authenticity and the “real” factor, and it allows them to do the same.
Not that I don’t need to grow and change in certain areas. Sometimes we need to “watch our diet and exercise” in our lives, figuratively speaking, to be our healthiest selves. But deep down we know our true fit and sometimes all we need is just a new pair of “pants”…
Wear your favorite pair of jeans today. You know…the ones that you hardly even know you’re wearing because they fit so well. They’re comfortable. They look good on you. They’re you. Go be you, today. Wonderful, glorious and God-created. No one’s looking at your tag…they just want to see the real you…:-)
Psalm 139:13-16 – For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
