White Linens and Purity.....

There was a time when white linens were what everyone wanted.  Yes, it's true.  When a Bride wore a white dress, she had dreamed about her dress forever or so it seemed!  It was part of the ritual of preparing for marriage and the wedding.  She went through an engagement period where the focus was on acquiring the items she would need for her trousseau.  There would be the batiste, embroidery, lawn, and lace.  "Women have never lost their passion for the frivolous secrets hidden away in lavender-scented line cupboards." Yes, women have a passion for linen and the wedding festivities were prepared by the elder women for the young Bride. Families did it all, from the bouquets, to the planning of the wedding, to the food served and the training of the Bride to "wait" for her husband. [Intersect grace here....for we all need to be reminded that God does indeed leave room for HIs grace.] Times have changed.....  Even years ago when I was young, this planning and the purity began to unravel and today it is noticeably different.  Again, grace intersects because God looks at the purity of the heart.  That is what is truly important.  

I am the eternal optimistic when it comes to mentoring young women!  God's Word has a definition of beauty and of purity and we are exhorted in Romans 12:2 not to allow the world around us to squeeze us into its mold.  In Proverbs 31:30, physical beauty has been given a short life...."Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain".....Charm in the Hebrew means "bodily form".  Form and beauty are two things that our culture esteems and pursues with fervor.  In I Peter 3:4`5 we are told as women, "let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.  For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves."  God defines beauty and purity by how we look on the inside, our heart.  God encourages us to cultivate a beauty that will only grow more attractive and more beautiful with the passing of time.  Investing in a young woman's life is such a privilege for a mother, grandmother, or aunt, or even a cherished friend.  Young women today are bombarded with so much that glorifies the body and not the heart and the soul.  In my life, as a mother of daughters and a son, this consumed a lot of my prayer focus and energy.  It was difficult then.....I can only imagine the prayer and love mothers pray over their daughters today.  With that said, there are many, many ways though in which a young Bride continues to desire what you and I desired in years past.  She still goes and selects items for her home and does this with a love and desire that is beautiful.  A woman still wants a beautiful, happy home!

So....on to white linens!  I love white towels, white linens, white anything......imagine my delight when I happened upon a lovely linen store, Cologne and Cotton in London and other towns around the UK.  The linens, the soaps, the cologne, the cottons...well it was all there and it was beautiful.  I could just imagine a young Bride selecting her linens and bedcoverings.  Think about it, "the very thread of life that weaves a deep-seated link between textiles and humanity in a symbolism reaching back to the infancy of the human race."  These words are by the author of a book I own, The Book of Fine Linen.  You see, white linens, beautiful white linens are something since the beginning of time cultures around the world have associated with beauty and with romance and with being feminine!  Here's to white linens!  Enjoy the photos of the ones I purchased and the inspiration from the Lily of the Valley!  I can hardly wait!

These scented sachet's were so fragrant.....

Every Bride loves the fragrance of Lily of the Valley!

It is a symbol of humility in religious paintings and is often used as a part of the Bridal bouquet.  Catherine Middleton used this lovely flower in her bouquet.

"I am a rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley"    Solomon 2:1