Women are Beautiful

Walt Whitman wrote a poem entitled 'Beautiful Women' that reads:

Women sit or move to and fro, some old, some young,
The young are beautiful - but the old are more beautiful than the young.

Since reading that a few weeks ago, I've been watching women around me a little more closely. I've been noticing their delicate forms, the way they move just a little more gracefully than I do, the way their smaller, smoother frames compare to the bulky, jagged, awkward frames of men. I've been noticing my wife and as I watch her develop wrinkles and other little signs of age, I think what a story those signs tell of a life given to building a family, serving people around her, and trying to lift up instead of tear down. She has always been physically beautiful in my opinion and, though she still has room for growth, she grows more beautiful in other ways every day. She is more beautiful on the inside than when I first met her and the wrinkles tell a story of a beauty that can't readily be seen. But I see it. And because I see it, she looks more physically beautiful to me than ever before. I wonder if that's sort of what Whitman saw.

Earlier this week, I was riding a bus and in the seat across the aisle from me, I saw an older couple, maybe in their 60s. The man had his arm around his wife's shoulders and they were leaning toward one another. They looked happy together. I stole a few glances at the woman's face. It looked a little worn out, skin sagging, but her eyes were bright. Her face seemed to radiate something that no amount of make-up or fashion could mimic. That old woman looked absolutely beautiful.

Portrait of Virginia McKenna

"Beautiful young people are accidents of nature,
But beautiful old people are works of art."
-Author Unknown

Seeing beautiful women like that, young or old, is as refreshing to me as watching a sunrise or sitting by a quiet lake. Men just don't have that effect on me. In fact, men are just bulky, awkward, and ugly. I really don't see what women see in men, but I'm glad they see something valuable. I'm glad my wife sees something redeeming in me that makes her want to stick around. And I'm thankful she lets me admire her beauty without being self conscious about it. It's refreshing and fulfilling. I really think our nature requires both male and female to feel complete. That's my experience and while I can't claim it to be universal, I'm fairly confident it is.

Adam called his wife's name 'Eve' because she was the mother of all living (Gen 3:20). The Hebrew word for Eve here was 'Ḥawwāh' or 'Khavah', meaning 'source of life'. Adam treasured this companion God gave him immediately and recognized her as a source of life, naming her accordingly. Women are beautiful treasures, gifts from God, and they have a unique gift that allows them to participate much more closely than men in the process of creating new life. What a miracle to be part of that process and to be married to a beautiful woman who allowed me to take part in it with her. Thank God for beautiful women.