Written by: Marnie Pouget
Can I be honest with you? You may be young and your skin beautiful and dewy, your hair thick and
glossy and your body toned and healthy but you are aging. It may not feel like it but it is true.
We live in bodies that are growing and changing but aging from the minute we are born.
I really don’t mean for this to be discouraging but it is a reality we all must face.
“For, all people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the
flowers fall,” 1 Peter 1:24
Our glory, our beauty will fade and fall. Our skin loses elasticity and gets saggy and wrinkly. Our eye sight
fades and we squint at pages we once read with ease. Our hair begins to take on new shades that
demand to be noticed (and dreaded).
It is easy to take for granted your youthfulness until a sweet child brushes through your hair and
declares in drawn out enthusiasm that you have “be..YOU…ti…ful white highlights” and the more she
brushes the more she finds. It helps that in her innocence she believes she is honouring you with a great
compliment.
Or in the arms of a precious toddler snuggling close and sighing in contentment over the soft pillow of
your body; which sends you frantically into ridiculous amounts of abdominal exercises to gain a 6 pack
or thereabouts.
We can try to fight the process but it is a losing battle.
Even the fit women will find their skin sagging and wrinkling. The sun exposure that creates golden
healthy tans in youth produce premature wrinkles with age.
The truth may be hidden, but underneath the dye the hair is still turning white and grey. One only has to
look at the roots which all too quickly divulge the secret. And one day a glance in the mirror reveals an
old woman with a ridiculously fake hair colour that is anything but flattering.
For those who can afford the extreme, there are tucks of all kinds available for the right price.
Now, I am not saying that using hair colour and make up is wrong. Nor is keeping fit or even, if you are
so inclined, to make permanent changes to your appearance. Enhancing, reducing, tucking. Fight the
aging process full force, if you like.
We can spend a lot of time and money in an attempt to keep our bodies looking young and vibrant.
Though, with observation I would say that it is a poor investment with a less that satisfactory return.
“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing
of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a
gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” 1 Peter 3:3-4
I admit that I hope my husband finds me attractive but I don’t want that tied to what I wear or how I
have done my hair and makeup. When the makeup has been washed off, my hair has been brushed out
and I have donned my comfy clothes, I want to know that he still thinks I am beautiful.
As women, we want to be beautiful. Not temporarily pretty but with an enduring beauty.
So what is an eternal beauty? “the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit”.
I have struggled with the inference of this image in the past. Quite frankly, I am not sure anyone who
knows me would describe me as gentle or quiet, in fact at one time I was shocked to be described as
blunt.
When I picture a woman with “a gentle and quiet spirit”, I think of my Sunday School Teacher, Arielle.
That was really her name. But unlike the stubborn, rebellious redhead under the sea, this Arielle was the
precious, patient mother of three boys. They were true, rough and tumble boys. Arielle was neither thin
nor heavy. She had a soft warmth about her. When she smiled, her eyes lit up and her face shone. She
was calm and patient (until that one day when she was pushed too far- I wouldn’t want you to think she
was perfectly perfect but she was real). Her hair was neatly piled with soft grey tendrils. She had a
gentle and quiet spirit and she was beautiful.
That is not me. I can be loud and bossy. I am passionate and exuberant. I am certain that I must
embarrass my children on a regular basis with my abundant personality. But gentle and quiet?
To be honest I have felt like a failure reading this verse. One day a lovely friend pointed out that it would
be a boring world if we were all quiet and gentle all the time but this verse wasn’t referring to
personality but spirit. I didn’t have to tame and subdue the vibrant personality I was given.
Her encouragement didn’t stop there but went on to explain that she saw my quiet and gentle spirit. My
daily walk and trust in God. My faith lived out through difficult times. The fruit of the Spirit growing and
overflowing in my life.
As I live in communion with God….
“…but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person
is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not
wither—whatever they do prospers.” Psalm 1:2-4
“For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and
enduring word of God. For, all people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the
grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” 1Peter 1:23-24
The grass may wither and the flower may fall but a tree planted by the water, the word of the Lord, is
vibrant. Full of life and fruit. An eternal beauty. Definitely worth the investment.
Until Next Time,
~Marnie
Uniquely Yours Ministries 