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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Beautiful (11/07/05)
Life with a 17-year-old boy is always full of challenges. Raising my Drew has been no exception to that rule. Boys, guided by the world and their hormones, are very sure they know what beauty is.
In Drew’s estimation there are certain physical qualities that enable a woman to be good-looking. I’m sure that you can imagine what they are. A beautiful woman has a figure that’s firm and curvy. She would be tall but not taller than he is and have long blonde hair and blue eyes, perfect teeth and a perfect smile. I’m hoping maturity will eventually teach him that all those physical attributes do not necessarily insure a pretty woman. I’m trying to teach him about what a truly beautiful godly woman looks like.
Of course a big part of that lesson is that the same attributes that make a beautiful godly woman apply to making a handsome godly man. Lives that show the Fruit of the Spirit make us beautiful to others. When we generate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control we make ourselves attractive to others and we please our heavenly Father.
I looked up some synonyms for the word beautiful. Included in the list were words like foxy, ideal, classy, ravishing, and bewitching. I think my favorite was pulchritudinous. The definition of pulchritudinous is: characterized by having great physical beauty and appeal. Of course our culture values pulchritudinous over almost any other quality except money (as in lots of it).
Thankfully, and blessedly, God doesn’t place physical beauty anywhere on His list. He’s more interested in how generous I am. He looks at my heart to see if I love others as He loves me. God is watching to see if I’m producing the Fruit of the Spirit not if I’m producing great wealth. I believe that God looks at me through the shed blood of His Son and finds me beautiful because I belong to Jesus.
As a mother one of my duties is to teach my son God’s definition of pulchritudinous. It’s difficult. I’m constantly fighting the culture that we live in that only looks on the outside. Imparting to him the truth that we are truly beautiful only when we live by the direction of the Holy Spirit requires all of my imagination and use of every object lesson I can come up with. Being beautiful by God’s standards is much more important that by the world’s standards.
You can be beautiful to God too. Just believe on His Son Jesus and follow Him. Live in His grace and His peace that passes our understanding and you will become His radiant Bride.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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This article has been read 878 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Rachel Burkum
11/15/05
Only thing I can say - Amen. :)
Garnet Miller 
11/15/05
I hope other mothers will work with their sons to show them the true meaning of "beauty". I have two sons and I'm working on them.
A comment: spaces between paragraphs would make this wonderful piece easier to read. Thanks for sharing:)
dub W
11/15/05
A good statement. Put a space between paragraphs for readability.
Alexandra Wilkin
11/17/05
Good point well made; as mentioned, paragraphs would make this more readable. I can certainly empathise with you about teaching your son! God bless.
Dan Louise Mann
11/17/05
This was one of my favorites this week in the intermediate. Kudos!
Jeffrey Snell
11/17/05
Now that's a new word! Funny how, though it means physical beauty, it's a rather yucky-sounding word, huh? :) No spaces between paragraphs made it difficult to read, other than that, nice observations.