The point of this post is not to externally process even more, but rather to get your feedback.
First, because I was very humbled when my friend and I sat down and realized that even two different perspectives are a limitation, because femininity includes all women, and all women are, in fact, very different. (Shocking, I know.)
Second, because I know the people that read this blog are brilliant (obviously, since you read my posts) and I respect your opinions.
Quick nutshell of the class: (If any LT-ers who signed up for the class are reading this... it may be a spoiler.)
The overarching purpose is to restore dignity to femininity, to sift through our perceptions of it and maybe ferret out a few of the negative ones that are based out of our culture rather than the Bible. My friend and I have no expectation to conquer the entire topic OR, once the four-week workshop is over, except all the people taking it to have arrived at what it means to be a woman of God and in God in the fullest sense.
The teachers are young and the female heart way too deep a matter to take care of all that.
What I'm hoping to get your help with, is your thoughts, opinions, experiences, etc. on our first week's topic.
Beauty as a female Christ-follower.
Questions we'll be asking the girls:
- What word or picture first comes to mind when you hear the word "beauty?"
- What emotion first comes to mind?
- Why is it so important for us to hammer this topic out, anyway?
Questions my friend and I have been asking ourselves:
- Is outward beauty biblical?
- What does a "gentle & quiet spirit" really mean? (I Peter 3.1-7) ** I looked up the greek, and as far as my not-able-to-understand-biblical-greek mind can tell, it may literally mean, "a spirit that withholds unnecessary strength that may harm and is tranquil or peaceful."**
- What's the balance between immodesty for attention & hiding your physical femininity out of fear or pride?
- Queen Esther was able to save her people, not completely but in part, because of her physical beauty... right?
- How can we seriously, really, I mean REALLY, stop comparing ourselves to other women?
Okay... that's all the rough bits for now. We each have our own stories with this topic, and maybe I'll get around to posting mine later this week, but for now, I'd love your thoughts! If you'd rather not post them, feel free to email me.
p.s. I'd love the male perspective, as well.
Alls I know is I WANT A GENTLE AND QUIET SPIRIT!
ReplyDeleteI think outward beauty can be biblical, but (as in most things that are superimportant to the Lord), it really comes from why you're caring. I want to look nice for my husband and for him to be attracted to me physically because I'm attracted to him, and I'm kind of a fairness person.
Sometimes I put on makeup because I want for people to respect me/take me seriously/think well of me, and in this instance, I'm not sure.
When I'm making myself attractive in order to be attractive to other men, I think that's clearly wrong. Thank God this almost never happens anymore. That felt like the purging of a disease!
The truth is, physical beauty will matter until we reach Heaven. Our husbands need to be physically attracted to us by the time we get married (I'm not AT ALL saying it's the basis for beginning a relationship, and it can and often grows).
I have the benefit of having a husband to tell me if something is immodest or not, but he's pretty relaxed, so maybe others find what I wear to be sometimes immodest. I don't really care. For me and what I wear, I think it's pretty much always an issue of the heart, rather than the actual clothing. If people find shoulders really alluring, they need to work on their mental discipline. At least right now, the Lord has not convicted me that wearing sleeveless shirts or even shirts cut lower than the standard crew-neck t-shirt are sinful.
But I'm a work-in-progress, Christina. And I know I, at times, can dog on the guys (in my heart) that they force us to have it together out of selfishness or laziness. And I get defensive when girls go on tirades about modesty, feeling like it's a huge burden that we're required to carry, to always be thinking about how guys might view what we're wearing. But it's not godly. I want to think of my brothers and sisters as better than myself. I'm working on it. :)
Thank you! I struggle with, "is there such a thing as being too modest?" sometimes. I felt weird even typing that....
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I loved your thoughts. I've noticed tackling this topic as a married woman has put a whole new spin on it.