There's no such thing as a pretty Christian

The other day Jose and I were having a nice dinner at one of our favorite places right around closing time. In the corner of the restaurant sitting at the bar was a very loud woman and 2 very loud men who from their very loud conversation I gathered were both trying to pick up the very loud woman. Normally when I'm at a restaurant with Jose I don't notice other people (so if you ever see me at a restaurant and I don't see you don't take offense just know I'm on a hot date ;) However as I mentioned before this group was very, very loud. One of the men told the woman that she is beautiful. She then began to rant about how girls are told from the time they are very young they are beautiful and it doesn't mean anything to women to hear it. (this is false, women who hear it all the time may think it means nothing but if they stopped hearing it for a couple weeks...you better believe they will be doing whatever they can to hear it again.) This conversation and a few others I've had recently have had me thinking about the subject of beauty.


When I was younger I was always told that I was very beautiful. I heard it often enough that it did things to my self esteem that you can't manufacture and in turn I think it made me seem more beautiful because not only was I attractive I behaved with the self confidence of someone who knows they are attractive. (what do you think makes movie stars even the ones that are just so/so seem so beautiful?) As I turned from adolescent to young adult I started getting exposed to religious people who deemed beauty a liability. Twisting scripture such as "man looks on the outside but God looks at the heart" to mean that if you are pretty or attempt to look your best you have the wrong focus. The other one I heard a lot was "charm is deceitful and beauty is vain" (I have an opinion on these verses I will address later in this post) So I started to have an inner conflict. I didn't want to be ugly but when you are told by enough people that you must if you want to be saved (essentially) you start to think (at least I did) that maybe, just maybe you can't be pretty and a Christian. So then comes a subconscious choice. Love God or be beautiful? Honestly for awhile I chose the latter. (sad but true) Then after I came to myself and realized I had lost God somewhere back there I started to let myself go a little and try to hide my beauty. (I know, I know, I told you I have a pretty healthy *maybe even overly healthy* :s self esteem) You must understand I didn't sit there and think "God or beauty? God or beauty? O.k. I pick beauty...Now I pick God" Like I said it was mostly subconscious.

So for awhile now I've been told the things I was told before were not correct. God loves beauty! Look around you. Wherever you are you are surrounded by the wonder and beauty of God's creation. Even if you are sitting inside with no plants you are still surrounded by the beautiful colors God created. If he didn't love beauty then why did he make flowers beautiful? Even fruit and vegetables are absolutely, brilliantly beautiful! (where else can you eat a rainbow naturally?)

Now to address the scriptures I spoke of before 1 Samuel 16:7 "But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" This verse was talking to a man choosing the future king. God was telling him not to judge others based on their appearance. (ironic, no?) Yes we can use it as a reminder that just because Joe Shmoe thinks you are an angel because you look like one that is not exactly a God breathed endorsement of your spiritual health. But *I* believe it is mostly a reminder for us to not follow someone because they *look* like a leader but because God has ordained them to be. Ok next verse

Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. (NLT version) {whoops those people that were preaching to me before kind of left something off}. Ok yes this does say charm is deceptive, but I think people see that and say to themselves "oh no! charming people are deceptive! Must run away from all charming people" (shoots a leery glance at the handsome prince they married, "I knew there was something off about him" ahem, anyways) That is not talking about charming people it's talking about charm in general. Some people particularly women (imho) can come off as charming at first but it's like a mask. Charm can be taught (hello! Charm school anyone?) but it's not real. Not everyone is charming all the time, at some point prince charming stops putting his shoes in his closet and his undies in the laundry basket (not my prince charming, but you know *other* prince charmings out there) and there comes a point in time when a woman takes of her make-up or *gasp* doesn't wear any sometimes. See what I mean? Its a mask. Next part, beauty does not last. Beauty fades! Yes it does we all know it. We all (or almost all) try to deny it and color our grays, buy wrinkle creams, exercise our bodies into submission but we all pretty much reach our most attractive point at a young age and then (very, very slowly) ;) grow older and not as beautiful as we once were. However that does not mean that until your beauty fades you cannot be a good God-fearing woman! Not at all! If your focus is on being beautiful on the outside and you forget the necessary inside beautification then your in trouble. Wash yourself with the word woman! How many days do you go without taking a shower? If you don't do that regularly you will stink! Also you will start to look gross. (you know it happens) So why do we go days sometimes without taking our daily Word bath? Honestly? Nobody sees us not reading our bible. We can charm our way into seeming like we did it. But God sees. If we really fear him really, honestly care most about what he thinks then we will take the time to talk with him each day and read the beautiful love letters he wrote us. Read this

How beautiful you are, my darling,

how beautiful!

Your eyes are like doves.

My dove is hiding behind the rocks,

behind an outcrop on the cliff.

Let me see your face;

let me hear your voice.

For your voice is pleasant,

and your face is lovely.

You have captured my heart,

my treasure, my bride.

You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes,

with a single jewel of your necklace.

Your love delights me,

my treasure, my bride.

Your love is better than wine,

your perfume more fragrant than spices (taken from song of Solomon)

Alright ladies. That was written for you. How do you feel? Has anybody on earth told you something that beautiful? (it is possible I know, just not very common) Reading that, do you think the one who invented flowers and wrote that for you wants you to be ugly? Or pretend you don't want to be what he made you? I don't think so! You are beautiful! God made you that way so play it up! Just don’t let yourself get too carried away. Balance is the key to life. Be beautiful for God and you will be fine. (oh and it's ok to like it when people say your pretty or beautiful...and in case you aren't sure, the proper response to such a statement is "Thank you" )