Hospitality, Friendship, Encouragement

Thursday, July 24, 2008

To My Nieces Who Are With Child

The True Meaning of Beauty: A Pastoral Letter to Fruitful Vines

“Dear Fruitful Vines,

One never knows in God’s mercy and kindness what a simple appeal to a Biblical passage can produce. As I was pondering my last encouragement to you all, I pondered Psalm 128. Verse 3 says, “Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house.” I thought, “You know, instead of saying, ‘Dear pregnant moms,’ maybe, ‘Fruitful Vines,’ instead.” Now “pregnant moms” is a lovely term to me. Nevertheless, from the encouraging replies I received regarding the term Fruitful Vines, it will now be the address of choice!

This also pointed out to me again the importance of words and, especially in our society, of image. You dear sisters have to stand in the checkout lines of Wal-Mart and other stores all the time. Glaring at you are rows of magazines that virtually shout at you, “The Hollywood Harlots are the standard of beauty. You have to look like this, and display that, or you are not beautiful.”
Don’t listen to this. Reject it. Replace this lie with God’s truth.

Some of you mentioned waddling. Some of you mentioned that vines are thin. I was amused. Yet, I was also pierced to my very soul. Our society has made body-sculpting surgeons rich and constantly shoves its artificial, nip-and-tuck, silicone and Botox standard of beauty in your face. Let me tell you something: waddling, as your body bears the children God gave you, is holy. The changes, the aches, the pains, the swelling, the stretch marks, and all the rest-these are all beautiful in the eyes of the Lord and to any man who has his biblical wits about him.

It is stunning beauty to see women submitting to the often painful changes that bearing the Lord’s children brings. Being fruitful and multiplying brings glory to the Lord Jesus Christ and is the holy act of bringing God’s elect into this world.

Through virgin’s womb, our beloved Savior entered this world. Mary did the most holy waddling that has ever graced the planet. It was not the sultry, sensual sashay of seduction. It was the humble, load-bearing, groaning, aching waddle of the salvation of all God’s elect for all eternity.

Waddle on, groan on, swell up to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ: you are displaying a true and holy beauty to your God and to anyone who has eyes to see.

My beloved wife used to say in her last trimester, “I feel like a beached whale.” I wish I had told her a million times and more, “But you are beautiful to me and to the Lord.” She was then and she is now the delight of my eyes.

Dear Vines, there is a beauty in your fulfilling the eternal purpose of God to which all the airbrushed, surgically enhanced bodies on this planet will never compare. Your self-effacing sacrifice displays the glory of your Lord.

Waddle, swell, and groan to glory of your Savior. He knows true beauty when he sees it...”


This was posted on Doug Philips blog, from a message by Jeff Pollard.

Melissa and Alicia glory in this beautiful time in your lives. Please don't think of yourselves as fat, a beached whale etc...You are baring the next generation. You are beautiful and will be even at nine months!

I love you!
Auntie Dee/Aunt Deanna

6 comments:

  1. What a wonderful encouragement for these ladies! I know that my own husband always looked at me with such delight each time I was carrying our children. I thought he must be crazy! One evening, I was 9 months pregnant with our second child, and my husband took me out for a nice dinner before the baby arrived. I put on my prettiest dress, and off we went. As I got up from our table to go to the restroom, a man at another table stopped me. He said, "I just wanted to tell you that my wife and I were noticing you, and how beautiful you look." WOW! That had quite an impact coming from a complete stranger. I have never forgotten it.

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  2. Oh wow, thank you SO much for these encouraging words! I'm going to have to save them some where handy so i can go back and reread them in the coming months. =)I guess i've never looked at it quite like this before. It's given me a new perspective.

    "Waddle, swell, and groan to glory of your Savior." This part made me smile and may become my new motto!
    You just made my day. =)

    Thanks again!
    Love you!

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  3. Wow, thanks for this Auntie Dee! I too had never thought of it this way either, what a beautiful thing. I will definitely print this out and place it in my pregnancy journal to remind myself...I need reminders and this was great!!

    Thank you for thinking of me, so thoughtful. I love the line that Melissa highlighted.....

    Love ya and thank you!!!

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  4. Oh Dee, Alicia has the glow. Well, I think we all do now that I think of it!!! LOL

    She is very cute and will be the best mom!!!

    And, she likes the name "Grammy!"

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  5. What a beautiful post! My daughter is pregnant, and it is such a blessing to watch as she grows and grows. I'm looking forward to the waddle as that means my grandchild will almost be here.:)

    Thank you for being such an encouragement.xo Lidy

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