7All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you.
Women have a tendency to find fault in themselves. I don’t think there is a guy in the world who uses one of those magnifying mirrors and examines their face, and yet hundreds of millions of women do this every day. And they are not looking to find the perfect spots! So women don’t need their man to point out the imperfections. They are doing that already for themselves. They want a man who will see the beauty. Some of the images of this chapter do not strike us in our culture. If we told a woman that her hair reminded us of a flock of goats, we would get a slap. But this husband is finding ways to say that he loves the way she looks. He uses the language of his world to woo her. Teeth like freshly shorn sheep, each with a twin. This would send a modern woman to the bathroom to brush her teeth, but for this wife, and for that culture, it meant a lot. Her teeth were white and they were all in place, fairly straight. No whitening treatments or orthodontic procedures were needed. I want to encourage you men to find ways of pointing out your wife’s features in a way that she hears it as a compliment, where she feels special and beautiful. Since the Fall, woman’s desire has been for her husband, but it has largely gone unfulfilled. Part of that desire is connected to how she feels about her own beauty and desirableness. Insecurity is the norm. It takes God’s grace and many positive reinforcements to counteract our culture and the negative self-talk of most women.
The Arnold Journey 