I have spent the past two years doing serious reading and research into nutrition, hormones, exercise, and overall health. As I continue to try and connect all these various dots, I have begun to realize that I've likely had some hormonal off-balance for years now. In the past, I would go to the doctor and ask why I got such deep acne, or why I had enough peach fuzz over my face to well enshroud any peach, and he or she would dutifully send me over to the dermatologist, who would give me some face wash or hair remover or cream. But I now realize that the zits are not the problem - they are merely symptoms of something deep, internal, and complicated.
During a discussion with some youth from church, the topic of being a control-freak surfaced. As a well-trained control freak myself, I listened as they described being controlling of their siblings, academics, etc. Though such manifestations are important to both recognize and treat - like a zit - I encouraged them to delve deeper - figure out what was going on in their souls that was making that particular blemish pop out. At least for me, such manifestations are entrenched in sins of pride, selfishness, and lack of faith in the sovereignty of God. It surfaced in how I dealt with school applications, academics, horseback riding, or my future plans, but I needed to get to the root. In high school, I remember specifically beginning to pray that God would reveal my sin and break me of it. Those are dangerously good prayers, and He has been so faithful to do so. Sometimes it literally meant being driven to my knees (in the case of one disastrous cross-country skiing expedition), but often He had to pry my feeble, clenched fingers off some prized possession. The mighty God of the Universe first helped me see the zits, but then moved far past that into some of the crevices of my soul where sinful bacteria bred.
Modesty - always the hot topic come summer - has been littering news feeds and status updates for a few months now. As Christians, we understand it is important - somehow hefty concepts like purity and holiness and freedom and submission and beauty and love all intersect, but we don't entirely know how. We want to draw lines in the sand, or on bodies, to show exactly where two-inch wide straps should go and the appropriate length of hems. The brutal part about it all is that we are only measuring and evaluating zits - ugly and scar-causing though they may be.
Thus, the two-piece versus one-piece debate becomes rather topical, like slathering some cream over that Rudolph nose. Everyone can see it - everyone wants to talk about it - but what causes it? What causes a young woman to dress in a way that desires attention, versus a young woman who rightly wants to wield the beauty God has given her? God doesn't shirk back from beauty - He laces it through sweet peas and ignites it across the sky and splashes it against coral reefs. Woman is His crowning creation - we are meant to be beautiful. So what happens when a woman feels neglected, nurses bitterness, has deep wells of pride, or even deep wells of father hunger and need not being met in her own father? Often, the acne starts to spread. It might be a few blackheads here and there at first, as a tween, and then it grows ever deeper. Yet such sins don't manifest themselves only in overly tight jeans or low tops - we need to see the gossiping or lying or manipulation just as quickly as we notice cleavage.
Most likely, what that young woman needs first is not a tank top over that swimming suit, but love and truth and grace. Much like hormone imbalances, it takes time to not only figure out the problem, but remedy it. It's a trial-and-errors mess, but it brings health where there once was sickness, and can even circumvent potentially deadly consequences.
Practical applications of modesty can be beneficial - so can salicylic acid. Often, we need to be trained how to care for our skin and our bodies, like we need to be trained when we walk into Target to buy clothes. But if a young woman desires to honor God and her father, then she will also honor her brothers in Christ. She need not worry about protecting them - she needs to worry about joyously submitting to the father who has been entrusted to protect her. If a woman can emerge from the fray of this current darkness with a deep-seated humility, faith, joy, and strength in who God is and who He has made her to be, most of the modesty debate will be a non-issue. If she willingly and delightfully rejoices in the beauty God has made and wants to showcase Him instead of Herself, her face will shine like the noonday with purity and fierce beauty.
No comments:
Post a Comment