True Beauty

As a little girl I loved to escape to the fields of flowers blanketing the hills of my Grandmother's backyard. These flowers speckled the hills of bright colors: yellow buttercups, daisies, and purple clovers. At times I would find myself lost in their beauty. I would relish in the careful picking of each stem making sure each to be just the right length to fit within the carefully formed bouquet. When I close my eyes, I find myself right there in the fields. I imagine the sun's warmth kissing my skin, and the sweet music of nature all around me. On such days my Grandmother would exchange my bouquets for a tall glass of iced tea and admiringly place the flowers in a tall glass up against her front window for all to see, to delight in their beauty.

Perhaps every woman possesses a deep desire to bring a bit of beauty and life to her part of the world. Perhaps this is merely one of the ways in which woman uniquely bears the image of her Creator. I don't mean to speak of the kind of beauty we see plastered on every news stand magazine. I am not referring to the airbrushed and lypo suctioned kind of beauty. No, it is the greater beauty, the beauty our souls long for. The beauty that the senses of our souls delight in.

Single, married, divorced, widowed, young or old, every woman longs to birth and to give life. We long to bring life to places of desolation and hope to despair. We long to leave more than an impression of beauty upon the roads that we travel. We long to leave marks of beauty that are long lasting, rooted deeply into the lives of those we love.

What is this beauty? Woman's beauty is seen in her voice for the voiceless and care of the broken. Her beauty is a unique blend of justice and mercy. Her beauty blesses when others curse. Her beauty deems "dignity" when others deem "disposable". Her beauty is seen in her endurance through times of disappointment, and her faith at times of betrayal. Her beauty is her extension of grace , her plight of hope, and her offering of forgiveness. Her beauty is her authenticity when masking and posing would be easier. Her beauty stirs the hearts and souls of those around her to long for more and to be more.

Dearest Daughters of Eve, this is the beauty that we long for, and are intended for.