Finding True Beauty by Candice Watters on 10/14/2006 at 8:20 AM

Today I'm 36 weeks pregnant. Yesterday, at the hospital pre-registration, I had to answer the cheery nurse's dreaded questions, "What was your pre-pregnancy weight?" and "how much have you gained?" Oh dear. Those are tough questions for any woman to answer, especially in this culture. My sweet husband plugged his ears for my answer and said, "I'm not listening." (May every woman have such a thoughtful guy!)

Last night I was reminded of part of the reason it's so hard to admit to a frame that never was, nor will be, a size 6 (other than when I was in third grade). I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal called "Alas, It's Still Only Skin Deep." Beauty, that is.

The Journal's review of Beauty Junkies by Alexandra Wolfe, a book about the pleasures and perils of cosmetic surgery, ended this way:

"...the book leaves the reader not only aware of the emptiness of cosmetic surgery's results but also conscious of the vacuity of our current concept of beauty itself."

If culture's concept is vacuous -- utterly empty -- where can we get a concept worthy of humanity? Adam and Eve were, after all, God's crowning work of creation.

The starting point is hidden in that misleading article title. Real beauty has little, if anything, to do with the skin. It's all about the heart. Proverbs 31:30 says, "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."

I love that. Beauty is fleeting. Not can be, or will be if you don't visit your plastic surgeon regularly. But is. I'm off the hook for expensive cosmetic procedures. Making the most of the frame God gave me, I can relax.

And that's exactly what I need to do to get ready to birth this new life. The ultimate in beauty.

Finding True Beauty by Candice Watters on 10/14/2006 at 8:20 AM

Today I'm 36 weeks pregnant. Yesterday, at the hospital pre-registration, I had to answer the cheery nurse's dreaded questions, "What was your pre-pregnancy weight?" and "how much have you gained?" Oh dear. Those are tough questions for any woman to answer, especially in this culture. My sweet husband plugged his ears for my answer and said, "I'm not listening." (May every woman have such a thoughtful guy!)

Last night I was reminded of part of the reason it's so hard to admit to a frame that never was, nor will be, a size 6 (other than when I was in third grade). I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal called "Alas, It's Still Only Skin Deep." Beauty, that is.

The Journal's review of Beauty Junkies by Alexandra Wolfe, a book about the pleasures and perils of cosmetic surgery, ended this way:

"...the book leaves the reader not only aware of the emptiness of cosmetic surgery's results but also conscious of the vacuity of our current concept of beauty itself."

If culture's concept is vacuous -- utterly empty -- where can we get a concept worthy of humanity? Adam and Eve were, after all, God's crowning work of creation.

The starting point is hidden in that misleading article title. Real beauty has little, if anything, to do with the skin. It's all about the heart. Proverbs 31:30 says, "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."

I love that. Beauty is fleeting. Not can be, or will be if you don't visit your plastic surgeon regularly. But is. I'm off the hook for expensive cosmetic procedures. Making the most of the frame God gave me, I can relax.

And that's exactly what I need to do to get ready to birth this new life. The ultimate in beauty.