Tuesday, 14 October 2008

• Woman- Beautiful, The Crown of Creation Part 2

  Guest post submitted by ancient_scribe

  

  (continued from Part 1)

  The attack on Eve, though, did not end in the bite of an apple.  The serpent still whispers in the ear of all men and women, and look at how Eve is attacked in this world, especially in this country. The expectations for women are horrendous and boil down to the subtle but definite difference between attraction and beauty.

  Woman, you do not have to put on makeup to enhance your beauty. Makeup covers up, and what you cover up was made by God, who is a master-level craftsman. However, makeup does serve the purpose of making you more attractive which, when it honors the gift of your flesh that God has given you and the whole world, honors God. But when it covers in shame or a vain attempt to "make" oneself beautiful, I think, just works to destroy a woman and fool a man.
  

  Woman, you do not have to obsess over diet or the shape of your body to be beautiful.  What does it do to the beauty of a woman if she gains weight as she ages? Nothing, if she understands her beauty and honors it. However, being healthy honors the gift that God has given you, and good stewardship of that body honors him. But to diet, worry and exercise to "make" oneself beautiful again just works to destroy a woman and fool a man.
  
  Woman, you do not have to throw yourself as a piece of meat into the lion's den of a man's sexual appetite. Do you realize that there is a value to your purity that is without price?  Yes, absolutely a man is called to purity as well. But there is something about the purity of a woman and what a woman gives to a man whom she loves, a man that God sings to her through.  Woman, you are too dear and valuable to give yourself away to any man who will not give the same. You may fear losing the man you are with, but if you give yourself to him to keep him, does he give himself to you? Can you buy a heart?
  
  Woman, the bottom line is this: You are created in the image and likeness of God. God is beautiful. You, woman, are created beautiful. Look carefully at that wording: You. Are. Created. Beautiful.
  
  You are not created *to be* beautiful (you are simply by existing).
  
  You cannot *make yourself* beautiful (because you already are).
  
  You cannot *be made beautiful* by anyone else (because God has already done so, and who could surpass his work?).
  
  Certainly, not every woman is attractive; the attraction can be marred, and always fades with time. But God didn't create anyone or anything to BE attractive, to BE temporary, but immortal. Every woman IS beautiful, period, forever, and a woman who embraces this is incredibly attractive despite any attribute of her flesh. If every woman in the United States realized that, really, they are already beautiful and the only thing that they can do is accept and embrace that truth, the whole economy would then be in real trouble, even more so than now.
  
  No woman would feel compelled to buy any beauty products.
  
  No woman would feel compelled to wear designer clothes.
  
  No woman would be fooled by advertising.
  
  Really, the whole beauty and advertising industry would collapse in a day, as well as the pornographic industry for that matter, because no woman, realizing the gift and reality of her beauty, would dare to let herself be treated like that. Does God reveal himself pornographically? Absolutely not; he reveals himself lovingly and in truth.
  
  So to all those women who have their days when they do not "feel" beautiful, you must remember that you are beautiful anyways, that "feelings" pass where true knowledge is permanent, for if you ever for one moment are not beautiful, than neither is God, whom you most directly, among all creation, reflect. Instead of hiding behind a dead moon of dust and stone, observe how the sun enhances its beauty when hiding itself behind a tree or a cloud, and how glorious it is when hiding in one sense to reveal a deeper aspect of its beauty in another. Makeup, clothing, way... these things do not create beauty, but should serve it.
  
  To those women who struggle even moreso with trying to make themselves beautiful, for those who struggle with eating disorders, with dieting, with fashion, with self-harm, with abuse of any kind- do not lose hope.  Let Christ come to you and heal you, and as you come to know Him you will come to understand that you are beautiful, for why would God pursue with such desperation, sacrifice and romance what was not utterly beautiful and desirable? You ARE lovely, lovable, and loved.  Reach out to him, and he will take your hand in his and place it on his heart, pounding with love for you with such a strength as to shatter all illusions.
  
  All of you women, from my mother to my sister, to my grandmothers and cousins and aunts, to my very dear friends, to the women in my past, those rocks against whom I shattered my heart again and again, to Eve my first mother and Mary my new one in Christ, to the woman who taught me to sing to the woman who taught me to weep, to the women who have fed me to the women who have starved me, healed me and wounded me, built me up and crushed me, led me astray only to lead me Home... thank you, and thank God.

  Who is a woman that you thank God for?
  

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