It creates for her a vision of herself that is almosty purely imagined. It makes her proud of assets, she may, but also may not -in her imagined vision- possess. Her ego is enlarged and pours useless words from her lips. Pride and self-obsession make her weak because they hinge upon the power of the self to become something. They are like parasites, which, far from bringing gain to the woman, rather sap her of any real beauty she may truly possess.
She also has only so much strength; after it is used up all that's left is a dried out husk. Is it not sadly so with many women who were once young beauties? Who all their lives pursued perpetual youth, where everything they deemed to be of worth was centred around their image, and who allowed self-obsession to completely take over their hearts. Are they not wasted, are they not now old before their time and are ceaselessly pining after their youthful, beautiful days? They are now weak, but most of all, they are fools.
When a woman mistakes vanity for strength, outward beauty for the eternal and self-obsession for the fufilment she could have found in cultivating a beautiful soul, she slowly dies inside.
The realisation of every Christian woman at some point in their life, which perhaps some women understand more profoundly than others, is that this body is corruptible and is passing away. Our stunning eyes, rich, abundant hair, tender skin and smooth curves will one day give way to crags, lines, sagging, dull eyesight and balding. We will look hungrily on old photos of by-gone days and may stare despairingly at teenage girls flaunting their legs on street corners, yet all the while inwardly covet their youth and beauty.
Yet, the Christian woman's hope is that she will one day be made more beautiful than she could ever have imagined. Her body will grow old and die, but her soul is eternal. Her real self, where all her treasures are hidden, will remain.
Cultivating a beautiful soul is paramount not just for remaining beautiful in old age but to that eternal joy when we will be completely beautiful once again, like Eve would have experienced had she not sinned; that full and beautiful unity of flesh and spirit, an uncorrupted flesh and a beautiful soul that has been bought at a costly price.
Women become more beautiful the more they are in the presence of the Beloved, the Beautiful One and we will have an eternity of that.
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