Today’s Post Written By: Erin Davis
I stumbled on an interesting collection of photos recently. ABCNews.com displayed a series of photos of individuals featured in the Guinness Book of World Records. Here are some highlights:o The largest human peace sign was formed by 5,814 people in Ithaca, N.Y.o The most pierced woman lives in Scotland and has 5,920 body piercing (ouch!).o A Texas man holds the record for sitting in a tub with the most rattlesnakes. He lasted 45 minutes with 87 rattlesnakes (double ouch!).o A Massachusetts man grew the biggest pumpkin on record. It weighed 1,689 pounds.o And just in case you were wondering, the largest Mentos-and-Coke fountain was created by 1,360 students in Belgium (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/popup?id=2284437). If you’re anything like me, these kinds of records fascinate you. In fact, most of us are drawn to the idea of doing something spectacular, even if it’s as silly as choreographing the world’s largest coke fountain. But, this idea that performance equals value can easily trip us up. It’s true that the people who are listed in the Guinness Book of World Records have accomplished something extraordinary. But does that mean that they have more value than those of us who haven’t been a part of a giant human peace sign or sat in a tub filled with rattlesnakes?Let’s take it down a notch. Forget world records for a minute. What about sports, grades, activities…Do you have value because you are a straight A student? Would your friends still have time for you if you weren’t a star athlete or first chair in the school band? Would your youth pastor think so highly of you if you didn’t agree to work the nursery, and set up chairs for youth group, and serve on the student leadership team? Would your parents love you less if you weren’t the best at everything you do? Do you ever feel burdened by the feeling that your worth comes from what you can accomplish?Me too.In fact, lots of girls feel this way. During our research for Lies Young Women Believe, we found that a whopping 95% of the girls we talked to were plagued by the lie that they had to perform in order to be loved and accepted.Here’s what they told us:I’ve been struggling with depression for five years. I always have those little feelings that I’m not worth anything–that I’m not good enough. I can tell it is Satan telling me that I am never going to make it. That I can’t DO anything in my life.””As soon as you get into high school