Thursday, September 15, 2011

A Woman's Heart Part One: Beauty to Be Unveiled



‎"It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter." Proverbs 25:2

Now, before you all die of shock that I am actually writing about a woman's heart, let me first assure you that I have actually taken some time in discovering what it is all about. I do not pretend to know the ins and outs of it, for that would mean the understanding of my own heart would reach God's understanding of it, that of which cannot be obtained. Yet, I have discovered some recent principles that I want to delve into, ones that I think the Lord has lead me to begin to slightly understand and maybe even desire.

First, let’s go into the history behind this epiphany, so to speak. The fall colors are beginning to appear and the air is transpiring a scent of drying leaves, curling flowers, and musty breeze. It is beautiful. As I stood, staring out the now open window just a few days ago, I finally realized what the primary purpose of nature is: to be beautiful. Nature, unlike many necessities in this world, does not rely on or achieve its purpose through providing for people or giving people things they need in life to survive (it can. . . but bear with me for a minute). The most common reception nature receives is stares, stares of wonder and honor, stares of pure joy and dancing.

Nature is primarily termed the glory of the Lord; it is the masterpiece of creation that displays His beauty in ways that shock us every day we witness them. The water trickling over forgotten falls, the sunset blazing forth in the midst of an endless dessert, flowers creeping and covering a newly placed grave; He provides a feast for our eyes to behold and our hearts to warm to.

Just as nature’s primary function is to simply be beautiful and captivating, so is a woman’s heart, from the day she is born, beautiful and captivating. Our culture robs women of their sense of confidence and their ability to understand and behold just how delicately perfect a woman is. We live in a culture where the media focuses on purely physical beauty and tries to tempt us into pursuing their definition of beauty. Then, we seek the church and find that they emphasize the beauty of the soul and spirit and say that such things must be fought for. In the end. . . a group of tired and downtrodden women replace the masterpieces the Lord formed in their mother’s womb, the women that were created as daughters of Eve.

But, a message that is often lost in translation is that the Lord made every woman, every single woman, to be both physically and spiritually beautiful. He made us to rival with nature, to be a masterpiece that few eyes could hold without staring. Yes. . . I know; it sounds odd and many of us women have a hard time truly believing how very precious we are, as a whole creation. Yet, it is so true and it a message that we all need to hear.

When God formed the world, He saw that it was not good for man to be alone. So, He created woman to be his helpmate (more on this later in Part Two).

--- Pause here just a minute and think about that: God said the world was not complete and it was not complete until there was woman. . . woman. You, me, them, her, us. . . woman. If you don’t feel even slightly warmed at the thought of that, go back and try again. You should feel special, very special. ---

While He created man and woman in His own image, they were made to embody different aspects of His character. Man and woman are so very different because we cannot comprehend all the aspects of God. Instead, we see certain aspects of the Lord in one and certain aspects in another. God embodied in woman characteristics such as His heart for relationships and romance, His longing for adventures with humanity, and His beauty, a beauty that is to be unveiled. Life-offering, relational expert, and all tenderness, mercy, and hope. Strength is ever present in a woman, but it does not come fighting with swords; it comes in steadfast mystery.

Women just do not look right pictured in the midst of a battlefield, with blood staining their faces and hands. That is a man’s arena. I am not saying women cannot be there or cannot be fantastic warriors, but something about that picture just strikes people funny. It goes against all the fundaments that a woman’s heart is supposed to be.

You wonder why women are commonly pictured still and tranquil while men are commonly pictured in action and doing something. That is because a man’s honor is in what he creates with his hands, what he works towards. It is against his nature to be passive. Yet, for a woman, it is the beauty about her that speaks to people, the mercy and tranquility. A woman standing still is enough to hold one’s attention for hours. . . a man standing still is enough to hold one's attention for a few minutes.

And when I speak of women being captivating to look at. . . I am not talking about those hidden behind layers of make-up, clothing that hides every aspect of creation or shields that block the sun from shining upon the very heart of a woman. We all deeply doubt that there is anything beautiful about us, ladies. We began to harbor that doubt at the Fall. As women, we are probably more aware than any of our shortcomings, of our imperfections. And even more so, we let those shortcomings swallow our beliefs and tint our eyes to see only the defects. We believe our shortcomings to be all one will see, and we try to hide ourselves all the more.

We ask aching questions. . . we ask ‘am I pretty?’ ‘Do I matter?’ ‘Where can I fit in?’ *smiles* We want to be loved and pursued and told we matter all the more.

Read that sentence again. And again. And again.

Remember when I said that women were made in the image of God, embodied with His spirit? Think of that and read that sentence in the above paragraph again. What does it tell you?

The Lord wants to be loved by us. He wants to be chosen by us. He wants to be pursued by us. He wants to be told He matters more than any other by us. The Lord’s heart cry is a woman’s heart cry.

Wow. And we all wonder how we can truly be beautiful? The Lord tells us how and reassures us how every day we look in the mirror, every single time we give our all to Him. He longs for us. And that longing. . . is the heart cry of women. It magnifies just how much God loves us, wants us, and wants us to relentlessly pursue Him.

That’s what a woman is. A woman is mystery. A woman is beauty. A woman is desire. A woman is passion. A woman is tender. A woman is vulnerable. A woman is heartbreaking.

And for all those women out there who doubt even a piece of this post. . . just think about it. Look at nature. Look at the world. This world was not complete without you. Man was lonely without you. God’s passion overflows through you. You. Are. Gorgeous. Magnificent. Treasured. Desired. Precious. YOU ARE HIS!


Read A Woman's Heart Part Two: Abandonment

4 comments:

  1. Beautifully written Hannah! Looking forward to part 2. :D --Grace

    ReplyDelete
  2. Excellent post, Hannah. Thank you for sharing such an overflow of your heart! =D

    Caleb

    ReplyDelete
  3. * is in awe * (not of you, silly, of God. :D)

    Okay, Hannah... *blinks* I have been praying this for you. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I guess I didn't expect it so soon... :D

    AND, as if that isn't God enough, I talked about this very thing (though rather less eloquently) at Bright Lights last Monday.

    Anyways, I loved this post. Very well done. Thank you! :)

    Love,
    Carissa

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for sharing this wonderful message... I am so touched.

    ReplyDelete