27 October 2010

for life's not a paragraph And death i think is no parenthesis

Came across the following quotation in today's Memorial Moment (a daily devotional written by Rev. Dr. Scott Murray of Memorial Lutheran Church, Houston, Tex.), and thought it worth sharing here:

"But we should not be amazed, for the greater part of mankind is ignorant of the true love of wisdom ... It is as if a person did not know how to recognize the beauty of human bodies but attributed beauty to the clothes and the ornaments worn. Thus when he saw a handsome woman possessed of natural beauty, he would quickly pass by her, but when he beheld one who was ugly, ill shaped, and deformed, but clothed in beautiful garments, he would take her for his wife. So also in a similar way, the multitude is affected about virtue and vice. They are attracted to the one that is deformed by nature because of her external decorations, but turn away from the one that is fair and lovely, because her beauty is unadorned, for which reason they ought to choose especially her." --John Chrysostom, Homilies on 1 Corinthians, 29.8.

I don't know about y'all, but my vanity takes a major hit every time I get pregnant again. I think that when I was younger I might have glowed a little bit; these days, I look like a swollen, gimpy lizard.

But, hey, it's OK. Unadorned beauty is that by which a woman ought especially to be chosen. And, unlike Maybelline (and, please, what can even Maybelline do for me?), it's free.

So, limp on, limp on in majesty! In lowly pomp, limp on to birth! And have a nice day.

6 comments:

Rebekah said...

Why isn't the Memorial Moment in our blogroll yet?

Leah said...

My husband and I have often remarked to each other when seeing some "celebrity" on TV or a movie, "Imagine what it would be like to actually have to live with that person." - a perfect body in which there is a soul that has never learned to die.

I thank God that in His mercy He spared us from being "winners".

Dawn said...

R: I don't think it would work. But I'm not schooled in the ways of deep magic.

L: Yes, indeed. And I'm OK with my skin being stretched over babies instead of silicone and putty. ;)

Leah said...

Gauntlets - me too :)

Melrose said...

I feel hideous from the moment that test turns positive, and I don't feel "pretty" again until at least 6 months pp. And whine becomes my only speak until around the same time. Pregnancy and I do not get along. But yes, way better than silicone ;)

Thursday's Child said...

I would rather have my body with my life than some celebrity's body and her life. I have my privacy, no one dissecting every little thing I do. I can even go into the hospital for some minor test and not make headlines.

Bliss!