Turtles... [and Modesty?]

Saturday night, my family all flopped down on the lounge to watch a 'Blue Planet' David Attenborough documentary. We stared spellbound as sharks, tuna, reef fish, sail fish, whales and beautifully coloured jellies swam through my lap-top screen. The film definition was perfect, the photography breathtaking and the information, apart from bits and pieces of evolutionary theory that we quickly discard, was interesting and informing. We had just watched a cloud of lighted jellyfish float by when an Olive Ridley Sea Turtle glided into view. I could not, I repeat, I could not help myself from commenting although I know the others don't like to be disturbed when watching. "Oh wow! She is soooo beautiful! I love turtles!" I cried. Literally as soon as the words left my mouth, I focused on the turtle's face. Umm yes, so she wasn't so beautiful after all. But, it wasn't her face that attracted me to her. I mean, she has a ugly looking hawk-nose-beak kind of thing and it's a scaly, horny head but the poise and elegance with which she moved was what made me exclaim after her. She glided through the water with apparent effortlessness and appeared so unconcerned with the world and everything around her that the scene was absolute peace and beauty.

It set me thinking about young women and girls and the picture we present to the world. And just so you know, I'm not going to even approach the subject of dress. Controversial topics like dress and music don't make it onto this blog other then very general principles. So no, I'm not talking about the way we dress although I know it's important. I'm talking about the way we act as young ladies. 

We all have an inbuilt desire to be beautiful and to be acknowledged as such but, let's be brutally honest, not all of us have a drop-dead gorgeous faces or perfectly shaped figures. Sometimes the desire for beauty leads girls to disrespect themselves and their bodies but it doesn't have to. Like the turtle, our beauty should come from within, from the peace and love for God in our hearts shining out to the world. Outwardly this condition of the heart is shown by the way we walk, the words we say, the smiles we wear and our interactions with others.

 

"Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised." Prov 31:30

"That women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shame-facedness and sobriety; not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works." 1Tim 2:9,10

 Let us meditate on these things and search our hearts to discover whether we are content and showing God's glory in our conduct and our disposition or whether we are seeking after worldly approbation.

"In all respects the dress...should have the grace, the beauty, the appropriateness of natural simplicity. Christ has warned us against the pride of life, but not against it's grace and beauty. He pointed to the flowers of the field, to the lily unfolding in it's purity, and said 'Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.' Thus by the tings of nature Christ illustrates the beauty that Heaven values, the modest grace, the simplicity, the purity, the appropriateness, that would make our attire pleasing to Him." Counsels to Teachers, Parents and Students pg 302, 303

What about you? Has this post inspired you in any way? Has God blessed you with a revelation of how to be a Godly young woman?