Women`s Empowerment: What Defines Beauty? | Bomb Dot Com Hair
Have you ever heard the expression "true beauty is way more than skin deep"? Well, its true! There is more to being physically attractive than just good looks. Many believe that people are born beautiful or handsome—that static qualities, such as a pretty face, nice hair, or a shapely body are inherited. But what about what lies beyond the superficial exterior of skin, hair nails and even alluring clothing- or lack there of.
Its no secret that no matter how outwardly attractive a person is with old age your looks will fade- and we no longer fall into the vain definition of beauty that society has created. Dont believe us take a look back at your grade school pics. Lets take it a step further. The scriptures tell us "Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised" (Proverbs 31:30). In other words beauty passes but our heart and soul has a beauty that not only others can feel and sometimes see but that God knows for Himself.
Song of Songs or Song of Solomon 4:7 says, "You are altogether beautiful, my darling, beautiful in every way".
The bridegroom speaks. The sweet humility and modesty of the bride kindles his love afresh. He praised the loveliness of her bodily form, and she by her response showed the exceeding loveliness of her soul.
Lets examine the beauty of our soul. The beauty that can not be defined by a gorgeous wig, bomb bundles or mink lashes.
We study beauty in spiritual formation, partially because to be spiritually formed means to become God’s work of art:
Ephesians 2:10 “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works!” He is creating in us a beautiful soul.
I Chronicles 16:29 says, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness.”
What brings God glory is a beautiful soul so it is imperative that we understand what makes a beautiful soul.
Questions that come to mind are:
What is beauty?
What is a soul?
How do the two come together to form a beautiful soul.
Our own John Mark Reynolds (Torrey Institute) once said: “ Getting reality wrong can be dangerous”. When I found a lump in my breast – a part of me wanted to dismiss it like it wasn’t real and therefore wasn’t a big deal – but that would have damaged the good work God was going to do in my soul thru the journey of breast cancer. It is a big deal when we break God’s laws in not heeding His call to find His beauty in all things. The moral choices we make create a difference in our soul. Morality is real and so moral mistakes damage my soul.
If beauty is real, then mistakes about beauty would be also very serious. If we think Miss America who walks the boardwalk and sets the standard for American women with her firm body, perfect hair, and sexy walk is beautiful and Mother Teressa whose face is thin and pale with no makeup, owns nothing and owes nothing is not beautiful, then my desires in beauty may be damaging my soul. Or if my favorite music, art, and entertainment are ugly, then my entertainment may be hurting my soul.
You may ask, “Why or how can making a mistake about beauty, damage my soul?
To help you understand the soul, let me tell you a story of when I was a little girl in Michigan where around Thanksgiving time the snow would begin to fall for the winter season. As little kids, I had two sisters and a brother, we would watch the first snowfall waiting excitedly for enough to accumulate for us to go out and make a snowman so we could win the neighborhood contest of building the snowman that would last the longest into the winter.
If we built it too soon, we would roll the snowballs to make the snowman and it would inevitable gather up dead leaves, sticks, dirt and the stuff leftover from the Fall into the snowman.
- Then when the snow in our yard was used up, we would have to go to the neighbor’s yard to gather the white snow without all the debris and patch up the unacceptable and dirty parts of the snowman to make him white.
- The Problem: When the sun came out, the snowman would have a crisis. He would begin to melt and chunks would fall off where the debris was….soon it was an unrecognizable crumbly mess and we would lose the neighborhood contest.
- Over the years we learned:
- Wait longer for when more snow to fall so the debris from the Fall wouldn’t get in the snowman
- We learned that if the snowman was clean with no debris, when the sun came out, instead of melting it and making it fall apart, the sun would melt it during the day and it would turn the top layer into ice during the night when the temperature dropped – the crisis of the sun became an advantage for a longer life for the snowman – sometimes lasting the whole winter.
Our souls are just like a snowman
They are like a vacuum but have no on/off switch. They pick up whatever is put in all the five areas of our life – physical, emotional, relational, cognitive, and moral. What is picked up either damages or beautifies our soul.
So how do we know whether something is going to beautify or do damage to our soul?
There are two levels of beauty.
Comeliness or what we see as attractive on the sensory level is the most frequently envisioned meaning of beauty – an attractive, sensory delight like a beautiful woman or a lovely rose.
The second level of beauty is spiritual, as transcending. To experience this secondary level of beauty is to have all the five areas of our soul (physical, emotional, relational, moral, and cognitive connected to the spiritual. Spiritual formation often thru the facilitation of a spiritual director is looking for the beautiful work of God in all circumstances of our life no matter how painful or ugly they may seem in the moment.
This transcendent or deeper beauty loosens our attachment to our own desires and ideals (our false self), and as this happens, we are freed, at least for a moment, from the prison of our selfish view – because we are faced with the glory of creation and God’s view of Reality and we have in that moment a beautiful soul.
Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Last Saturday morning I laid in my comfortable warm bed looking out at a perfect picture of who God is and how it reminded me of what makes a beautiful soul. The brilliant, quiet, silent, elegant, pure, simple, lovely, praiseworthy, gentle work of the Master creating a picture of himself and His merciful work in me removing the ugly and replacing it with His beauty and good.
Thomas Dubay in “The Evidential Power of Beauty” says that transcendent beauty creates an emotional experience that awakens and fills our human needs: HOW? By being connected to the spiritual, God’s work in us.
For Example: Beauty Fills:
- Our souls with wonder – Wonder is the normal response to splendor. It makes us question and dream. This is why Biola’s scholars and teachers share in their separate disciplines a common trait, an indispensable characteristic; namely, that of marveling at the reality of God, and looking for Him in all their explanations and reasonings.
- Beauty fills our soul to experience delight. God made us for ecstasy “a joy so glorious that it cannot be described” says Peter in I Peter 1:8. This is our final destiny – the beatific vision – seeing God and His glorious city.
- Beauty fills our soul with personal enrichment satisfied by beauty. As we are enriched and filled by beauty, we in turn enrich others.
- Beauty fills our soul to pursue and find truth – being in touch with reality is a human need and truth is beautiful and satisfying.
- Beauty fills our soul with mystery. We respond by being drawn out of ourselves in delight and intense joy. Scientifically speaking, beauty’s traits are elegant simplicity, harmony, and brilliance. The Bible calls this the “glory of created things.” When the transcendental properties of a thing are present (goodness, truth, and unity), then our human response is to perceive this whole as beauty. Hence: any whole tree is beautiful, while a pile of logs, lumber, and sawdust are not.
- Finally, beauty fills our souls with love and a desire to be loved. A true falling in love is beautiful resulting in a selfless commitment to the fascinating beloved.
God is the most beautiful thing.
What gives him glory is that we reflect his beauty in all areas of our soul so the world may know, see, and be drawn through the beauty of His handiwork in us to Himself.
Why Did We Write This Article
If you don`t know by now, Bomb Hair Inc (Bomb Dot Com Hair) is much more than hair! We talk Hair, Fashion, style and influence. All encompassed is women empowerment and leadership, whats going in our society and impacting our black communities as well as our women and youth. Bomb Hair Inc is created to empower women by providing access to quality hair that looks and feels real, that is safe and comfortable to wear and inspire a sens of confidence when women wear our extensions and use our products. Quality and experience are not only the forefront of what we stand for but its confidence too! Not just in our products but also in our education and uplifting. Education in the terms of educating youth and young adults in undeserved communities about entrepreneurship and business. Uplifting because whether you choose a long colorful wig, a short black bob or bald with no hair at all you are beautiful. Not just because we say you are but because the infallible word of Jesus Christ says you are!
Sources:
https://biblehub.com/proverbs/31-30.htm
https://www.biola.edu/blogs/good-book-blog/2011/what-makes-a-beautiful-soul
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