Real Beauty...and Real Joy!

When a woman has real JOY, it just bubbles out!  JOY has an essence all it's own!!! There is nothing quite like the essence of a woman who is truly filled with this joy, also healthy and next comes what we call......beautiful!  In my many, many years of mothering my daughter's, their overall health and filling their spirits with God's ways was my greatest concern.  We kept them outdoors  a great deal of time. Weather was rarely a factor, because we just changed what we had to wear in order to be outdoors. They all loved sports, well, maybe one a little less but she was really into fitness. There was no striving for perfection but just a desire to be healthy inside and out.  Real beauty emerges from a soul filled with the right things.....like fresh air and nature and a selfless desire to see oneself as a contributing part of the beautiful world God created.  Desiring to give rather than take.....this is what makes one beautiful.  Sometimes this has to be learned through the circumstances one is placed in.  Today good health is closely connected to the quality of our lives and the beauty of  a life well lived. 

Most women desire to be as healthy and lovely and as beautiful as possible.  Poise, grace, goodness, and modesty in dress and style keep a woman looking beautiful and elegant, even when no one else is looking. It seems what we place inside and outside (covering our body) is truly important.  Fashion changes daily or so it seems to me!  The hour glass figure does not last forever (no matter how hard we try) but the beautiful feminine nature IS God-given and it is meant to last the entire duration of ones life.  God, by design, made woman a beautiful creature!

Over the past few days, my readings have taken me to the life of a beautiful woman, Esther.  Esther was an orphaned Jewess who became the Queen of the Persian King, Ahasuerus.  Her life was not always full of joy and honor but she was used by God to preserve His people from ruin.  Yes, God used Esther to save her people, the Jews.  Her story is found in the Old Testamant and during this period in history, palaces and courtyards were used for lavish entertaining.  The references speak of "white and blue linen curtains fastened with cords of fine linen and purple on silver rods and marble pillars; and the couches were of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of alabaster, turoquise, and white and black marble."  Esther 1:6  Any designer would enjoy this description of beauty.  It was just at this palace where Esther first found favor in the sight of all who saw her.

  "The young woman was lovely and beautiful."  Esther 2:7

God opened her destiny for a purpose, perhaps she did not fully understand but her spiritual commitment and her sense of perspective reflected the heart of true inward and outward beauty.  I find it interesting that she was also given beauty preparations and personal care. (We think of cosmetics of something as a current product line)  She was attended by a woman who was the custodian of women. (you know the counter expert at your favorite line of cosmetics :)  Perhaps this person attended her lovingly like a mother would in caring for a daughter.

I like to think that investments in our daughters and even our grandaughters contribute to their inward beauty.....this my friend is what makes a beautiful woman. Outside products can only go so far and then......... the fragance of a beautiful woman fills the room LONG AFTER SHE IS GONE.

There is a purpose for each life, your life!  A beautiful strong and lasting purpose will hopefully touch the ones who come behind you.....something to think about beautiful one!

"Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this."