Standards of Beauty

Song of Solomon 1:15-16
(15) Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves.
(16) Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful. Our couch is green;

I thought I'd take a little break from Jeremiah to talk about this great book. There is a ton of controversy about the treatment of this book out in the blogosphere. Should it be preached? If so, how much should the pastor unpack the figurative language? What is appropriate for a congregation?

I don't really want to get into all that so much. I don't plan to discuss what the shoots of the garden represent, etc. In fact, I don't know if I'll write about this book every day as I go through it. However, this passage in chapter 1 is worth noting.

Earlier in the chapter the woman bemoaned the fact that her skin was dark because of the time she spent outside. Apparently the standard of beauty in that day was for women to be fair. On a side note, I'm sure that this woman would be mystified at the ubiquity of tanning beds in our culture.

In verses 15 and 16 Solomon reassures her that she is truly beautiful to him. Think about that for a minute. Is that the message you convey to your wife? Is your head on a swivel when you're at the mall or do you have eyes only for your wife? Are you able to resist the temptation of all that is on the internet partly because you are satisfied with your wife's beauty?

I acknowledge that we are 35 and that my wife takes good care of herself. However, that has not always been the case. Plus, going through 3 pregnancies changed her body significantly. Yet through it all I strove for her to be the gold standard of beauty.

Am I sometimes distracted? Of course. However, I am often reminded of just how fortunate I am to be married to my wife. She really is my standard of beauty and that is a work of God's grace in our lives.