A Pretty Package

Women each and every year spend millions of dollars on beauty products.  Women pluck, dye, cover up, conceal, and suck in all to create a beautiful package.  It's what women do!  Often though, women who are striving to live a chaste life often confuse being chaste with being frumpy.  Chastity is a virtue that we are all called to live out, married, single, dating,...we are called to live a chaste life.   But often our clothing takes two paths...too tight, too skimpy, too revealing OR boring, bland, frumpy. 

So what is the happy medium here?  How do you live a chaste life and still dress in a way that is attractive to men and makes you feel good about yourself at the same time.    Dawn Eden, author of the book "The Thrill of the Chaste" devotes a whole chapter on dressing in a chaste manner.  I love that Eden doesn't merely suggest covering up and making sure your skin is covered, rather she talks about creating a beautifully mysterious package.  I am an advocate for beautiful packages.  I am one of those strange people who love to wrap presents and make them look beautiful under the tree.  There is something about a beautiful package under the tree that causes those who gaze upon is beauty to wonder, "I wonder what present is deserving of such beauty and care."  And that is what it is like for us.  As Dawn Eden makes the analogy to a gift wrapped present being torn open a bit to reveal it's contents takes away a little beauty from the package.  The same is true for us women.  We need to see our  bodies as a gift that God has given us to share as some point in the union of marriage with our husband.  God does not though ask us to cover ourselves completely or not to accessorize.  In fact, Eden would argue that we should always make an effort to showcase the beautiful present that we are.

I also was reflecting today as I was sharing with my students some of the images of the Church that we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  It made me ponder the fact that if my body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit then just how am I treating it?  Am I giving it the love and care that it deserves?  Am I keeping a healthy lifestyle including my eating and exercising habits.  Being a woman who has always struggled with my weight I am constantly battling the bulge, but when I reflected on my body in this new mind set I realized it was time for me to make some changes. 

So, I have just decided to join Weight Watchers with a friend of mine and I am going to work on treating my body with the respect it deserves.  Good bye to my friends at the drive thru and TV time munchies.  So long Large Diet Cokes, and hello my mug of H2O.  I also am taking a look at my clothing styles.  Am I dressing in a way that I am presenting a beautiful package to match the beautiful me hiding inside?  Skipping my make up routine on a daily basis is no longer an option for I am the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  It's time for me to start treating myself with the respect I deserve.  I may never have a career in runway, and I am probably never going to be a size 2, but I am a beautiful creation of God and it's time I start treating myself that way.  Not to get the man, because then my actions would simply make me a sex object, but because I am worth it!

And so are you! :)