The Mean Girl In Our Head

Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ugh. My nose has a funny bump in the middle of it. Why did I even bother to try out for the play—they’d never want someone so weird looking in that role— Crystal paused midthought as she bent closer to the mirror. “Ew. Ew. Ew! Is that a pimple on my chin?” she murmured, utterly horrified. I’m so gross!

“Mom!” Crystal wailed out loud, “I cannot go to school today!”

Do you have a Mean Girl in your head like Crystal has? A voice in your head that constantly tells you all the ways you don’t measure up, all the ways in which others are better, smarter, prettier than you? Did you know this is something many girls struggle with, even when they become adults? We listen to the Mean Girl, accepting her poisonous comments as true, even when people who love us tell us the opposite.

That internal Mean Girl voice is not our friend, does not tell us the truth, and is not the voice Jesus wants us to listen to. If we pay attention to it, that voice will stop us from doing all the things Jesus has planned for us. It can even keep us feeling lonely and far from God, even though Paul reminds us in Romans that there is nothing we can do and no place we can go that will ever separate us from God’s love.

How do we stop the Mean Girl voice? First, we learn to recognize it. When you start beating yourself up mentally, pause and ask whether you would speak those words to your best friend. If not, that’s probably your Mean Girl voice.

Second, replace those words with the words of a true friend—Jesus. If you’ve asked Jesus to be in charge of your life, he calls you beloved, a daughter of the King, his adopted sister—did you know that? Jesus has so much to say about you, all of it filled with the promise of a good future. Let his words fill your mind—not those of a Mean Girl.

Things to Think About

• With an adult you love, each make a list of the comments your Mean Girl voices want you to believe and then compare lists. Which of your comments are similar?
• Ask your adult to help you find several Scripture verses that will remind you of who and whose you are. Write them down and put them in a place where you will see them often.

DAILY ACT OF FRIENDSHIP

Any time your Mean Girl voice makes a comment, immediately repeat one of the Scriptures you’ve written down over yourself.