Dear Young Women

Dear Young Women of God,

     Let me tell you a story of sorts.

     Fashionable. Attractive. Personality. Modest. Comfortable. Cute. Maybe these words describe some imaginary, "perfect" outfit. For me those words have often meant war. In the past, I struggled to find which facets of my identity to dress. On top of that, I was taller than average with big hips. In my mind, I looked like a Frankenstein assortment of body parts. On top of that, I wanted to know, even if I was not interested in "pulling" guys, that guys would in fact find some interest in me. On top of that, I wanted to appear at least somewhat on scale with the trends other cute girls wore--trends they wore seemingly without a care in the world. On top of that, I wanted to be comfortable! I played sports! And I didn't want anyone to think I really cared about any of this stuff at all. The battle of who could care less is often a popular competition. On top of all of that, my school, my God, and my family also required a little something called modesty. Really? I had so much to worry about. These were no small worries. The battle for defining my identity was not easily won. I settled for a T-shirt and jeans more often than not. Nothing really wrong with that. But the fact is, I didn't want to fight the battle. I gave up caring. I wanted to be able to say "I couldn't care less" and actually mean it. So I intentionally stopped caring. And like a plant that gets no love from sun or water, I shriveled. My lack of care turned to hate. I hated everything that made me frustrated with myself. Shopping was just painful. Often I knew what I wanted to look like and how I wanted to present myself, but the challenges of ever making that happen were mounted in the back of my mind, without my realizing exactly what was going on. Something like modesty was not even a thought anymore. How could I think of presenting myself modestly, which requires a respect for the person God made me to be, if I could not care about the person He made me to be?

     Years later, God continues to work on me in new and surprising ways. But the real miracle He revealed to me was that I am in fact His work of art. Imperfect? Yes. But His! And my worst imperfections only serve to bring Him glory.

     Oh how easy it is to hear that statement and miss its power. My IMPERFECTIONS serve to bring HIM glory.

     Many times when we go to pick an outfit, we ask "Does this make me look pretty?" or "Does this make me look fat?" or "Does this make me look attractive?" We try to find out if our outfits are telling the story we want the world to know about us. Wait. The story we want the world to know about us? Here's the problem. In all my hurt and fear and frustration, I couldn't look up to the heavens and see God through the clouds of my own self-hate. The story the world should know about us is that we are saved and redeemed! The story the world should know about us is that once we were lost and now we are found. The story I should be telling with my clothes is that God is God is God and I am His child. Wow. Well what would an outfit like that look like?

     Start with the personality He gave you--creative or thoughtful or fun or quiet or loud. Maybe all of these characteristics at different times. And then look to the actual physical body He gave you as well. Appreciate it. Appreciate it! Be grateful for every curve and straight line and wrinkle and freckle. See yourself as His creation. Be cautious of how you adorn your curves, so that you aren't bringing glory to yourself. Rather glorify Him in the juxtaposition of strength and softness with each curve. Maybe you're not curvy at all. Maybe you've been given that dubious body title boy shape, a term that is complete non-sense to me. But, see the beauty of each lean line and humble contour. Dress wisely, again, glorifying God for so seamlessly combining grace and structure in one form. Then through all the steps come back to that big notion of modesty. If you've already seriously gone through the steps of seeking your personality in Him and also appreciating the body He gave you to dwell in, then modesty will be in its perfect place. But consider it further all the same. Is anything you are wearing going to make your brother stumble? Are you starving yourself, whether hurting your person-hood literally or figuratively, to adorn yourself in something that is not true to God's calling over you? Are you fulfilling the standards in place for you?

     G.K. Chesterton said that his favorite part of every painting was its frame. What does that mean? He was appreciating a remarkable facet of all true art. A work of art, when still a blank canvas, has the potential to express all the beauty of all the world and every world. It can tell the glories of an infinite number of possibilities, and yet it ends right at the edge. All the potential power and beauty of creation is contained with just a handful of precious limits. These limits cause the artist to create more miraculously than compared to a piece without limits. These artists are made more creative by their limits. Young women, please see modesty as a tool of strength not weakness. Modesty isn't easy. If it were, we could all wear the styles of the most fashionable nuns and not think anything of it. But we are all called to very different portrayals of God when we dress. Don't give up. Don't stop caring, and please don't pretend you do not care. Care about the story your clothes are telling. Make sure that it's God's story. Live intentionally. And remember unquestionably, you are beautifully and wonderfully made.

Your sister in Christ,

Kala Ellis

Hope has two beautiful daughters.
Their names are anger and courage;
anger at the way things are,
and courage to see that they
do not remain that way.
~ St. Augustine of Hippo

Faith, belief, meaning, experience, knowledge; these five terms have everything to do with each other. In the same rights, they are also completely distinctive. I must begin with the concept of truth. My experience, my faith, my knowledge, my identity (I use these words selectively) form the belief that there exists a truth which surpasses all we claim to know, to mean, to experience, to believe, and to have faith in. With that context in mind, I can now establish the distinctions and relationships of each word and others as well.
Faith is the active participation of belief in hopes. Hope is believing in unseen things. Both hope and faith necessitate believing. Belief is the application of internal and external action in favor of hopes. Meaning is the perspectives of understanding-- true meaning is different; it is the actuality of definitions and connections as they apply to reality. Experiences are the encounters with reality that differ from person to person and can be translated differently, but are related as they are all connected to reality. Knowledge is the accumulation and containment of accepted facts. Along those lines, another important word to recognize is wisdom. Wisdom enacts knowledge with the power of discernment. "Discernment is not the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong, rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right," according to G.K. Chesterton. Each word interludes to a new, equally important word. Each word gives rise to a different, hard-to-describe feeling. Each word is a piece of a bigger, deeper picture--a picture that we can only touch upon, a picture that we often only catch in glimpses at a time. But most of all, each word envelopes the idea of a very balanced yet very antithetical world.
Faith, belief, meaning, experience, knowledge--each term is a bondservant to one very important, very understated word, truth. I know that the rendering of this word verifies that I have but one devotion; but it is important to note that this one devotion is the precursor to a thousand deeper thoughts, ideas, adventures, realizations and worlds! What good are faith, belief and hope without the beauty and goodness of truth? What good are experience, meaning and knowledge without the power and wisdom of discernment? “Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful” (Johnson 129). You could have all the knowledge in all the world in your possession; yet without the ability to know fully what truth is, you really have nothing. Now you are probably saying, “That’s ridiculous, who can fully know what is truth?!” I agree with you there; no one can ever know the truth in full. We are not capable of any sort of all-knowing, omniscient powers (well at least not those of us who have yet to fall into a vat of toxic waste, or make contact with a radioactive meteor, or reign down from the planet Krypton). Although truth will never be subdued on every level, the battle to ascertain truth can offer a glimpse into something great, into something deep, into something. A great deal of insight may be derived from a Bible chapter that focuses on love as it corresponds directly to truth:
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we will see face to face. Now I know in part; then I will know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 13.11-13)
Another issue you may be pondering comes down to the notion of “why is it all or nothing; can’t faith, belief, hope, experience, meaning and knowledge have some pretty great outcomes without the ‘almighty truth’ coming into the picture?” To that I must reply with the phrase sure; but; so. Sure, faith, belief and hope can drive people to some amazing things; but faith, belief and hope in anything usually orders some sort of action; so faith in truth brings out good, belief in lies brings out bad and hope in almost truth brings out almost good--no matter how it may struggle, almost good can never be good. What’s wrong with “almost”? The problem is that being “almost” about anything will forever tare you away from being “whole” about anything. It is one thing to acknowledge the inability to fully partake in truth; it is quite another to feel appeased with the inability to fully partake in truth. One gives way to progress; the other to digress. One gives way to substance; the other to inanity. One gives way to a thousand of those paths less traveled by; the other to a path met with a thousand barriers. The truth is a powerful thing which, in the end, will out itself. Truth will either enter in gracefully or hit you in the face like a ton of bricks. It will either be the peaceful resolution to a passionate search or the abrupt collision with an unrealized world.
Faith, belief, meaning, experience and knowledge will all make you speak; but truth, truth makes you right. While the five terms directly above and together are the onset for argumentation and rhetoric, truth is the onset for beauty and goodness. “If our world was capable of facing truth […] well it might just be a good thing. Sure almost truths can be pleasant, but imagine if we had no need of them at all […] That’s what I wish we could all aspire toward. I do not believe it too idealistic a dream. Perhaps it is. But that just makes it all the more worth fighting for.”

Works Cited
Johnson, Samuel. The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. London: Penguin, 1989.
The NIV Study Bible. Kenneth Barker, gen. ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995.