Lady of Virtue

I totally forgot to update this yesterday. This chapter focused on becoming a lady of Virtue. They used an illustration that I've almost never heard in reference to virtue: the pearl.  "One of life's most costly and beautiful objects is born out of pain and irritation-the pearl....the greater the irritation, the more valuable the pearl!"  I had never really thought of that analogy before. Grains of sand get into the oyster, producing irritation, and then as a result, a pearl. Likewise, being single are grains of sand used not to irritate you, but to help develop what God wants in you. "Don't view the trial of singleness as irritating grains of sand to be discarded as quickly as possible. Realize that God has them there to create something beautiful in you."  Developing better character has been hard for me, and to be perfectly honest, I'm not anywhere near where I want to be.  And I view my time being single, past, present and future, as being the grains of sand that God's using to develop me into a godly woman. 

Another thing discussed was the fact of outward beauty vs. inward beauty (or character).  Which is more important?  To me, it's always been inward beauty.  When I meet somebody new (like a girl), I wonder what their character is like; will they be a good friend to me?  Will they build me up in CHrist, not tear me down?  If they don't encourage my dating committments, it's very hard to remain friends with them, even if they don't say anything about it to me face-to-face.  I love this quote by Jackie Kendall (one of the authors): "if a man chose me for external beauty, his destiny would be hugging a prune. But, if a man chooses me for my internal beauty, his destiny will be unfading beauty even in the twilight years of marriage, because of Jesus."  Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?  You know how us girls always wait for our Prince Charming?  Well, "to marry a prince, you must first become a princess. To marry into royalty you must be appropriately prepared."  So it doens't mean just waiting around for that perfect guy to show up (because he doesn't even exist, to be honest!), it's developing the character of yourself.  As Monica said in Touched by an Angel: "You will never be ready to meet the right man until YOU become the right woman."   So many of us, and I'm included, tend to make a list of the qualities we desire of a boyfriend, but do we ever sit down and take the time to figure out what characteristics we want to develop in ourselves? I know I don't. I never really thought about doing that.  I do want to become like the woman in Proverbs 31.  A woman whose inner beauty overpowers the outer appearance.  But even if I try to do it, it won't be overnight; probably it'll take my entire life to become just like that Proverbs 31 woman. 

I'd like to post more, but I'm pressed for time and this is the best I can do.  An update/catch up will be posted Wednesday!