God's Gorgeous Girl & the Maker's Marvelous Man

I have older parents, so I can easily say that I have watched far more black and white movies than color movies in the span of my life. [I have also watched every single John Wayne film ever produced in the upward number of 65 times each.]  I love them.  I love the hats with the birdcage veils alluding to their womanly mystery; the tailored dresses that made each woman look more— well, womanly.  Things seemed to make more sense in black and white films.  Maybe it is because to the Lord, things like beauty, modesty, and strength— ARE black and white.  There is no middle ground in the way he sees and defines those characteristics.

I think women get a bad rap in terms of self-image.  Don’t get me wrong!  It is likely all true!  But I believe men to have just as many troubles with self-image as their complement, women, do.  Who is satisfied with what they see in the mirror?  Women may have their own coping mechanisms to deal with their dissatisfactions, but I can make a solid argument that men cope in their own ways, and sadly, don’t talk about these insecurities.   

As I have embarked upon this quest to research and understand true biblical womanhood, something has become remarkably clear: to know and understand biblical womanhood—you must know and understand biblical manhood.  These two are never to be separated (though culture likes to pretend that gender roles are interchangeable and irrelevant!).  They cannot be disjointed.  To know one, you know the other.  They are compliments.  They do not exist on different planets or in different countries from one another.  They are each masterfully created in conjunction to one another, with the beautiful forward vision of God’s amazing plan.  Think: true manhood as peanut butter, and true womanhood as grape jelly.  How can you have one without the other!  Jelly in isolation is just a bit too sweet, your lips pucker from the tartness, and your teeth will surely rot.  Peanut butter in isolation makes your gums stick together, you can’t swallow all it has to give you at one time, and makes your tongue feel funny.  But together.... masterful wonderfulness in your mouth.

My roommate, (Yes, I have a roomie now!) and I were chatting last night about things we have both struggled with in the past and what still inevitably carries into the future.  We both had a similar theme throughout the discussion: being “seen.”  [If you’ve read my post Secret’s of the Heart of a Woman, some of this will echo and expand upon some that was said there.]  Feeling invisible and irrelevant is one of the most difficult pills to swallow as a woman.  Eve was the very last thing God created.  I like to think of her as the cherry on the scrumptious ice cream sunday!  Sure, the world would have still tasted good without her addition, but goodness!  It would NOT have been complete!  Once more—it’s the last adornment, the dab of beauty, the first thing your eye grabs when it glances at the full picture.  God’s women were CREATED to be noticed.  I think the question is, though, for what?

Physical beauty is blarney.  Sure, when you are in your twenties you have ridiculously perky boobs, your rear end is so firm that it appears to be sitting on a shelf at all times, and if you have not had children, your washboard abs serve a dual purpose…making you look like Barbie, AND a place to wash your clothing efficiently when your washing machine breaks down.  Have you even thought about the parts of your body that society tells us are attractive?  Take boobies for instance.  They are made of 90% fat and glands that swell with milk… to feed a baby.  After this said baby is fed, they sag to your knees.  But we buy push up bras to squeeze the girls’ together, developed silly tricks to “fall into” or dresses to appear larger, and in some cases, insert foreign unnatural materials to be much larger than how God made them.  Let me repeat: THESE ARE SACKS OF FAT THAT WILL FILL WITH MILK TO FEED CHILDREN.  The bigger boobies you have does not indicate that you will have more milk to feed with.  Why are we so worried about them?  Thinking holistically, why are men so worried about them?  Men—next time boobs are brought up for conversation, and I have a feeling they are brought up more often than not, remind each other that they are sacks of fat that make milk for babies.  I am going to start a revolution on how ridiculous it is that society thinks that boobs are attractive.  The thing God has laid on my heart lately is the beautiful difference between appearance and purpose.  Thinking about boobs in their appearance form: lustful (for men or women).  Thinking about boobs in terms of their purpose for existence: beautiful.  Their purpose is to nurture and sustain a helpless, dependent child to strength. 

Now, let’s talk about a physical feature both men and women have.  Butts.  Rearends.  Fannies.  Blah Blah Blah.  This one is a personal favorite.  I happen (much like my mother, which is a bit weird to think about…) am a “butt girl.”  I have always been attracted to men with nice tushies.  (My mom and her sorority sisters used to have a very intricate “rating system” for men’s rearends, luckily, the obsession has dwindled by generation…I just like them.)  I think this is something men find attractive with women too.  Think of the many pop culture references to the glutes.  Beyonce’s hit song/ phrase “Bootilicous.”  Or the always playing at weddings and school dances “Back That ‘Thang’ Up.”  Here is revolution number two for you.  Every time one of your friends comments on their own tush, or the attractiveness of someone else’s—you remind them that they poop with that area of their body.  I dare you to even change the lyrics of some of these ridiculous songs to portray a more accurate understanding of PURPOSE over APPEARANCE. 

“My body’s so POOPY-LICIOUS for ya babe…”

“You’re a fine ‘lil woman won’t you POOP that thang back!”

HELLLOOOOO!  Please tell me that this makes sense to you!  I have found it a humorous conversation with the Lord, even.  Anytime I find myself sinning by thinking “His tushie is a ten.” I immediately repent to the Lord, and tell God, “Father, I’m really sorry—thanks for reminding me that he poops out of that and that I’m an idiot for thinking about it in terms of appearance.  The purpose of his tush is to poop, and that makes me want to vomit.  I’m really glad you showed me that God.  Love you, Amen.” 

When all the lies from Satan are removed, and the truth is displayed—our cultural fascinations and sins towards one another seem completely ridiculous.  Plato has an in depth discussion called the Theory of Forms, which discusses the difference between appearance and reality.  Here we can echo that same dichotomy: appearance and the reality of God’s purpose for things.  The even scarier truth that we are so slow to understand is the fleeting nature of BOTH the appearance and purpose of these things.  Cancer can quickly eat away at your breasts or your prostate, Lou Gehrig’s disease can trap your brain inside your body while it loses all motor function, a car accident can put you in a wheelchair removing your self-sufficiency.  So, yes, we are called to take care of these things—but not because they make you more attractive, but because our bodies are in fact GOD’s…and they are on loan.  You should exercise to have more energy to do God’s work here on earth—not to have a blasted chest and triceps definition that would make every human cry with jealousy.  WHY are you at the gym?  Are you ministering to people while you are there?  Or are you staring at yourself in the mirror doing squats trying to make your tushie, the area you poop out of, look better so that you can earn more attention?  For women, do you spend just as long “fixing” God’s creation by putting on make-up, expensive clothes, and expensive jewelry as you do in God’s Word everyday? 

That has been my new plan.  I set a timer on my phone as I start to get ready every morning, when I am done, I pause it.  For every second throughout the day I spend time focused on what I look like, I add to the timer.  Everyday my goal is to spend three times the amount of accumulated “primping” time in God’s Word—because I know that beauty to my Father is a “gentle and quiet spirit from within.”  I know for him it is more important to be submissive to His plan for me and for the godly male leaders he places in my life.  Let’s get real—God is God, so He KNOWS that my tush (attractive or not) is made to poop, so He sees more beauty in my broken tears of repentance, cries for guidance and discernment, and in the callused hands I have from ministering and sharing with others the beauty of His love.  God knows that you poop too, so feel free to stop doing your excessive series’ of squats at the gym, and instead work out your heart muscle to really be one of God’s Gorgeous Girl’s or one of the Maker’s Marvelous Men.  Don’t settle for worrying about weird things about your physical appearance that DO weird things, start worrying about the spirit that the Lord has cultivated inside you.  And dare I say it, for those women (and men) who feel like me (invisible and irrelevant) sometimes, don’t you dare settle on someone who is more concerned about your body parts that produce fatty milk and excrement, wait for the person who sees THOSE things as invisible and fleeting, and desperately wants to see the heart for the Lord you have been working-out, training, and shaping from within.

Just a girl who, yes, poops (surprise!), who sees a world poking and prodding at beautiful God-made perfect bodies for no other reason but that they failed to pay their “gym” membership at 24 Hour Bible Soul Fitness, and a girl who will gauge a man’s intentions by how he ignores my physique and REALLY SEES my heart for God.  And if that’s not something you find beautiful— then, as my mother would tell you: you can hit the road, Jack.  And don’t-cha come back… til you love my God, my GOD, MY GOD! Hit the road, Jack…

Bahahaha.  I make myself laugh.  Over and Out.

-Kami