So I didn't get right on writing that series on Beauty, but here's another one! :)
Gray Hair and Wrinkles
Not so long ago I overheard a girl about my age telling her friends that she would rather die young then get old and wrinkly. I stopped dead in my tracks and just stared for a few moments. How could someone rather their life be cut short than being old and wise? It doesn't make sense to me.
We have this viewpoint of it being a bad thing to get old. We're all trying to prevent wrinkles and gray hair from ages as young as fifteen years old, and once we reach a certain age, our birthdays are no longer something we look forward to, but rather, a day that we dread. But why? What's wrong with having experienced life?
I guess that this entry isn't necessarily only geared to girls my age, but women of all ages. Age is something to be proud of. No, I'm not wishing my life away, but I am excited to live those years. Those years where I've lived enough life to be considered wise, and where people are looking up towards me for advice. I want to be middle aged some day, and I want to be a grandmother. Wrinkles aren't a feature that we should spend hundreds to thousands of dollars trying to make disappear, gray hairs aren't things that we should spend hours a year dyeing.
Love the stage of life you're in. Love it. Whether you are a child, a pre-teen, a teenager, a young adult, an adult, middle aged, or a senior, love life! Yeah, of course every stage of life has it's difficulties, but each one comes with even more benefits. And guess what, you're beautiful in every single stage. The second part of the verses that we looked at in my last post, 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 4 says "Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight." The key part of that verse that I want to look at is where it says "the unfading beauty". That means that when you're looking at true beauty, it doesn't go away with age, it doesn't run and hide when wrinkles reveal themselves.
Beauty doesn't leave, and it doesn't hide. When you think about it, it's actually kind of silly to think that as you get older you lose your beauty, if anything, you only get more beautiful as you learn to understand the ways of the world. No matter how old you are, go out today, and embrace your beautiful self, and don't let anyone, not your best friend, your spouse, your worst enemy, your sibling, and especially not society, tell you that you aren't beautiful.
Wisdom and age don't always go hand-in-hand. There are many unwise people with lots of years and I know some young people who continutally amaze me with their wisdom ;)
ReplyDeleteAbby, you are wise and beautiful beyond your years!
ReplyDeleteHey! So I'm reading your blog posts (I hope you don't mind!) and I really like a lot of things you say! Although I am not of the same religion as you, I appreciate your views in a practical sense that does not necessarily relate to God. I really liked these posts about beauty, but reading this article I was slightly troubled. As true as all of this is, saying that "dying young rather than being old and wrinkly" doesn't really reflect an obsession of beauty to me. I've said this many times, but mostly because I feel that I have packed my life with a lot of art and enrichment, and being old to me represents a weakness, helplessness and sort of an unclarity about life that I don't want to experience. I think that death is beautiful and a tragic death during youth is almost just as if not more beautiful than a long life well-served. Just some food for thought! Thank you for staying true!
ReplyDeleteOf course I don't mind that you read it! :) You are completely right in that "dying young rather than being old and wrinkly" can mean different things. I really appreciate your thoughts! :)
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