A writer friend of mine, Eric Wiggin, wrote this on one of the email loops I frequent. I asked his permission to share it here. I'm sure you can guess his answer!

From Eric:

John Eldredge writes, in Wild at Heart, that, "There is Eve. Creation comes to its high point, its climax with her. She is God's finishing touch. . . . As C. S. Lewis wrote, 'The beauty of the female is the root of joy to the female as well as to the male . . . to desire the enjoying of her own beauty is the obedience of Eve, and to both it is in the lover that the beloved tastes of her own delightfulness.'"

My own take on this is that everyone looks at girls and women, and it's not only a lust thing but a beauty thing. I am married to a woman who can watch figure skating for hours and shamelessly comment on the girls' figures--come to think of it, why should there be shame in that?

The answer, of course, is that sin has so marred this perspective that we fail to appreciate it. A lot of older women, I believe, are constantly concerned that their teens are showing "too much skin," not so much out of protecting the girls (who do need to be taught modesty, BTW), but out of fears arising from their own decaying bodies. Sin is the reason we all decay--but that's a rabbit trail I'll not pursue at this point.

I believe that the most under appreciated book in the Bible is the Song of Solomon. People are embarrassed by it. It is written to married lovers, but the principles have much broader application. In chapters four and seven the man is telling his bride how beautiful she is in some very specific ways. Not something that a man should tell just any woman, of course. But all women are made for beauty, to be appreciated, and women do have a much sharper appreciation of female beauty than do men. Women also notice roses, sunsets etc. much quicker than men.

How much happier we'd all be if men learned much earlier in their
marriages that God made their wives beautiful, and a man's job is
to learn to appreciate that beauty. Girls don't have to learn,
however--it's instinctive. Did you know that girls know about
three times as many names for colors than boys? Or ask girls to name flowers and birds!

What do men notice? Hey--several guys are making guy talk on a
sidewalk. A pretty girl strolls past, in shorts, even. About that time a Corvette tools past. "Ooo, would I ever like to get my hands on that," one of them says. He means the car. Sorry about that, ladies.

The car represents power and money. Men are attracted to these
all the time. Helen of Troy is said to have started a war over her beauty. I think that's the only time that feminine beauty ever started a war. All other wars have been about power and money. And all wars have been started by men.

You get the picture?

Lisa here: Sure do Eric! Women rock!

I know I've been sounding like a cheerleader the past couple of days, "Go females!" But honestly, lately I've been particularly bombarded with impossible images of beauty, when really, the inner beauty inside of us all is what deserves celebration.

Ever thought about this? God sees the heart. That's where we must be beautiful.

grace,

lisa