“Beauty overwhelms us, enchants us, fascinates us, and calls us.”  ~Fr. Andrew Greeley

It seems like beauty is such a controversial thing in the Christian world today.  Am I the only one who feels like that?  I feel like we either hear one of two things about beauty from the Church.  #1- “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain”, coupled with, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes….”  or #2  Nothing.  And the issue of beauty, fashion, make-up and looking good in general has been left to the secular market- which although helpful on some level has really butchered the subject of beauty and twisted it into something that I’m certain is painful for God to watch.

From the book Captivating: “Beauty is the essence of a woman.  We want to be perfectly clear that we mean both a physical beauty and a soulful/spiritual beauty.  The one depends upon and flows out the other.  Yes, the world cheapens and prostitutes beauty, making it all about a perfect figure few women can attain.  But Christians minimize it too, or over spiritualize it, making it all about “character”.  We must recover the prize of Beauty.  The church must take it back.  Beauty is too vital to lose.  God gave Eve a beautiful form and a beautiful spirit.  She expresses beauty simply in who she is.  Like God, it is her essence.”

Amen.  One of the main things that inspired me to begin this website is the issue of beauty.  Seriously.  Beauty seems to have become a very non-spiritual issue and to be honest with you, it kind of ticks me off.  I have seen VERY few sources in the Christian world today talking about the issue of beauty from a spiritual context.  That is really so sad and disheartening to me because I believe so strongly that the issue of beauty has been placed in the heart of every woman by a God who IS beautiful and delights in beauty.

First of all, I just want to say- if you are a woman and have not read the book Captivating by Stasi Eldredge, you must, you must, you must put it on your reading list immediately.  This book speaks so powerfully about the issue of feminine beauty and the role that it plays in creation.  This book has literally changed my life and the way I view myself, what my role is, and who God created me to be.

In the book Captivating, they tell a unique story about Eve and how the world was not right until God created her.  Here is a part of what they say about Eve,

“Given the way that creation unfolds, how it builds to ever higher and higher works of art, can there be any doubt that Eve is the crown of creation?  Not an afterthought.  Not a nice addition like and ornament on a tree.  She is God’s final touch, his piece de resistance.  She fills a place in the world nothing and no one else can fill….

….The story of Eve holds such rich treasures for us to discover.  The essence and purpose of a woman is unveiled here in the story of her creation.  These profound, eternal, mythic themes are written not just here in the coming of Eve, but in the soul of every woman after.  Woman is the crown of creation- the most intricate, dazzling creature on earth.  She has a crucial role to play, a destiny of her own.  And she, too, bears the image of God, but in a way that only the feminine can speak.  What can we learn from her?  God wanted to reveal something about himself, so he gave us Eve….

…First, you’ll discover that God is relational to his core, that he has a heart for romance.  Second, that he longs to share adventures with us- adventures you cannot accomplish without him.  And finally, that God has a beauty to unveil.  A beauty that is captivating and powerfully redemptive.”

 Does that make you feel excited?  It does me!  When you read that, doesn’t it feel- right?  Doesn’t it touch something deep down in your soul that maybe you didn’t know was there?  Or is that just me?  I know that I have struggled with the area of beauty.  I’ve never met a woman who hasn’t!  Later on in the book, she talks about what our fundamental question is as a woman- “Am I lovely?”  We desire to bring beauty and to be beauty into our worlds.

In Proverbs 31:22 we see this demonstrated to us in the ultimate example of a Godly woman:

“She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.”

Not only is she bringing beauty into her house by making her bed beautiful, but she is making herself beautiful as well.  She is taking care of herself by wearing nice clothing.  Fine linen.  Purple.  Purple was the color of royalty.  Notice that it didn’t say that she clothed herself in sweats.  Or she wore her pajama pants on way to the marketplace (aka: Walmart).  Side note- What the heck is up with women wearing pajama pants to Walmart??  We are supposed to bring BEAUTY into the world…not make people uncomfortable in public places!

The Proverbs woman brought BEAUTY into her house.  She presented herself as BEAUTIFUL to her husband, her family and everyone she was around.  Do you think that is one of the reasons why her husband praises her at the end of the chapter saying, “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all!” ?  I do.  Beauty is essential!  It is part of the way that God reveals himself to us and to the world. 

Every woman has beauty to offer.  What beauty do YOU offer to the world?

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