My aunt was beautiful. Sure, her glasses were quirky and her sense of style wasn’t exactly cutting edge, but I never noticed.
She was getting married, and I was going to be one of the flower girls (something I had wanted to do ever since my best friend had been a flower girl a couple years prior). I had a beautiful dress, the rollers were in my hair, and all the adults were abuzz with excitement while they were getting ready.
A few cousins and I giggled as we darted in and out of the various rooms in my grandpa’s house only hours before the wedding. I was just 7, and this was my first time in a wedding.
On the way to the church, I remember my aunt turning in the passenger seat to talk to someone behind her. That was the first time I had seen her with her hair done and her makeup on. I started. What had they done to her? I was horrified, why–on her wedding day of all days–would her well meaning sisters and aunts make her look ugly? Scary even? It just didn’t make sense; people were supposed to be beautiful at their weddings, weren’t they?
A child’s natural reaction to make-up is to disdain it. They see it for what it really is: a facade. Over time, children grow up (obviously), and their mindsets change. I did, and mine has.
True beauty is something that is easy to lose sight of, especially when the culture shoves billboards and magazine ads in our faces, screaming “SEE?! THIS IS REAL BEAUTY!’ Eventually, we begin to agree with them. “Yes,” we reply, “that is how to look beautiful.”
Proverbs 31:30 says, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.” How easy that is to forget! A month or two ago, I was reminded of this verse again. You see, I read a quote that will probably always stick with me. It said, “I would rather be a Proverbs 31 woman than a super model.”
I love that! Here is a woman that has made pleasing God her ultimate goal, not the pleasing the world. I’m thankful that I have many women like her in my life who tell me to do this every day. Oh, they don’t tell me with words, they tell me with their actions. I want to thank them, I hope one day I can do the same thing.
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