the beauty of set apartness



"As women, the desire to be loved, approved, and found beautiful is innate. We dream of capturing the heart of a noble prince and gaining his lifelong devotion, just like the princesses in our childhood fairy tales.  And pop-culture preys upon that longing like a relentless vulture.  They keep dangling the carrot temptingly in front of us, urging us to spend our time, money, and energy pursuing the “next great thing” that will bring us one step closer to the dream.

And all too often, we fall for it.  We buy the clothes.  We read the magazines.  We watch the commercials.  We let the movie-makers and the fashion industry and the advertising executives define who we become as young women.

We’ve been looking for beauty in the wrong place.  And our incessant search for beauty has stripped us of all that is truly beautiful. 

Neither the world’s version of beauty nor the modern self-esteem message truly fulfills our longing to shine with enchanting grace and princess-like dignity.  And neither avenue meets that deeper inner desire to radiate with feminine beauty that never fades.

But there is another kind of womanly beauty – one that we don’t hear much about in today’s world. 

It’s the dazzling loveliness of set-apart femininity.

Set-apart femininity exudes a beauty that is not of this world; it’s the spectacular radiance of a woman completely transformed by the Author of all things lovely and pure.

Set-apart femininity, contrary to what you might be thinking, is not stodgy and grim-faced with drab, shapeless clothes, librarian glasses, and a twenty-pound Bible under one arm.  It’s not hiding from society or shunning the opposite sex.

Set-apart is the sparkling, vibrant, world-altering, Christ-like version of femininity that your King created you to exude. 

This kind of beauty is not found in the pages of fashion magazines.  It’s not found in the “love yourself” mantras of the modern self-esteem messages. 

The spectacular sparkle of set-apart femininity is found through absolute abandonment to the Author of all true beauty.  It’s found by exchanging a life consumed with self for a life consumed with Jesus Christ; by trading the desire to be attractive to this world for the longing to be attractive to Him alone.  Find a woman who cares about nothing but loving, serving, honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ, and you will see who truly is “the fairest of them all.”

                                                                                                                        Leslie Ludy