This is a reflection, in response to a previous blog post and challenge: One Week: No Makeup.
I went five days without makeup. Truth be told, i felt ashamed of a naked face at times - less put together, less...beautiful. At the same time, being free from the bondages of makeup was liberating! There was no need to check my face to ensure my makeup hadn't run, no need to touch up, no chance to hide behind a mask that covers my flaws.
As i have prayed about this follow up post, i can't shake the thought that our obsession with makeup and appearance is directly related to the Fall. In the beginning, Eve was not ashamed of her nakedness - which had to include a natural, naked face - as she dwelled in the presence of God and walked alongside Him. So when [Eve] saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took its fruit and ate...then the eyes of [Adam and Eve] were open and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths - Genesis 3:6-7 Eating from the Tree of Knowledge went directly against God and, from the received knowledge, made us ashamed of our nakedness. I think it is safe to say that here, an obsession with beauty and a craving to be perceived as such, entered the lives of all women. With shame came a need to cover ourselves - and makeup does just that.
So, my next step? I truly admire women that have chosen to live their day-to-day life makeup free. For now, i feel that God prompted this fast as a rude awakening and to instill an awareness of just how pressing the need to be beautiful is for the majority of women. For now, i will continue to wear makeup on most days. While there isn't a perceived lifestyle change, there is definitely a change in mindset and heart. I will not be ashamed to walk out of the house without makeup. I will not allow makeup to define me, to rule over my heart and be directly associated with beauty. Every time i put on makeup, it will be necessary to examine my heart and question my intentions. There may be future times when the Lord calls me to give up makeup again. And, first and foremost, the true beauty that every woman holds comes from her spirit. As 1 Peter 3:4 reminds us, this beauty is not fleeting, it is not fading, nor perishable. This beauty is eternal, as our spirit is of the Lord - the one and only constant, the Creator of all things beautiful and good.
You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes...how beautiful is your love, my sister my bride! How much better is your love than wine... - Song of Solomon 4:9-10 Our Bridegroom is enthralled by us, He is ravished by our beauty - what could be better than our CREATOR finding us simply stunning, just as we are? Do you believe it? I mean, do you truly trust that who we are in the Lord is where our true beauty comes from? We, sinning and imperfect, are beautifully redeemed, made beautiful in Him - beauty from ashes, life from His death. Not MAC, not Clinique, not Maybelline, nor any other makeup, not the clothes we wear, the jewelry, the tattoos, the...stuff we adorn ourselves in define us or make us any more beautiful. It is the Lord, and His love for us. Let our souls find rest in this, let our thirst for beauty be satiated in how the Creator looks at us. May we invest more time and concern in our relationship with the Lord than our outward appearance - that is my prayer in all of this.
I challenge each one of us to examine our hearts - do you truly know and TRUST HE has made us beautiful? A relationship with the Lord is the essence of beauty.
Take a look at these lovely women, embracing the natural, genuine beauty each of them possess. <3 Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold you are beautiful; your eyes are doves. - Song of Solomon 1:15
SO. SO. COOL! Sorry, I never got you the photo... oopsy!!! :( Great realizations, Katy!
ReplyDeleteI grew up surrounded by women who only wore make-up occasionally, usually only for really special occasions and so it never occurred to me to wear it on a daily basis….until I started public school in 9th grade (did you know I was homeschooled K-8th grade?) and was suddenly surrounded by all these girls and female teachers who wore make-up on a daily basis. I could see that their beauty was defined by their looks and it affected me negatively, for a while actually, a couple years. I never really used make-up because of shame over not knowing how to put it on/use it (no one had ever showed me), I was self-conscious without it but was more self-conscious with it on because I didn’t know if I had done it right. So I went in the opposite direction, wearing guys clothing and keeping my hair up and as anti-girly as possible so that my lack of make-up made sense and it worked, it got rid of the self-consciousness of wearing/not wearing make-up, girly clothing and letting my hair down more. But it also robbed my heart, I stopped thinking I could be beautiful, I lost track of my femininity and lost myself, lost any chance of having girlfriends because I was, “one of the guys”. Thankfully I became Daddy’s before I took any of it further, thankfully He knew better than I and began work on restoring my femininity to me, there were a couple bigger things with this, but also a few smaller things like stopping and really experimenting with clothes, figuring out what I actually like to wear, what makes me feel good in my own skin, you know? So I wear girl pants and mostly guys shirts and sweatshirts, I don’t wear make-up ever and don’t intend to and I feel beautiful and am aware of who I am as a woman, I feel feminine and that is a great feeling. Still have yet to figure out girlfriends, that isn’t something I’ve gotten to experience, but I’m more okay with it now than I was then, in high school. :) –Amber-
ReplyDelete- oh, and I know that even without make-up and wearing guys shirts/sweatshirts I will be beautiful in my husband's eyes, that was the other thing in high school - the "girliest" looking girls got the guys and in the one dating experience I've had (I'm never dating again by the way) in the end he wanted me to be "girlier" with my hair, make-up and clothes. To feel beautiful and feminine in what I wear and don't use, knowing that I am found beautiful in His sight AND to be secure in that my husband will see me as beautiful just like this is amazing :)
sweet katy. i have spent the majority of my life without makeup, mostly because i dont care how i look. if people dont like the way i look, i figure they should just quit looking at me. with that being said, i would not like the way i look with make up anyway. my point being, beauty has so little to do with what you, being katy, see. and more to do with what i, cyn, see when i look through you. not at you. not at your clothes, not your hair, not your face. but your heart, and your mind and your spirit. and you cant cover that up with make up.
ReplyDeletethis was supposed to be an eloquent little post, about the very idea of beauty being absurd, but instead turned into a mess of thoughts. i tease you all the time, because i admire your soul. and i love you like one of my own. but. if you tell anyone that, i will most likely punch you.
cyn :)
I wish my face were clear, then I would have the confidence to not wear makeup.
ReplyDelete