Portrait of a woman

Here I rest, in my old college town. Each corner presents itself in my memories. Turning a page in a book, looking past.


The route of my runs in the summer or 08’

The Library, my couch

The mall, the games, walks, discoveries

Dancing in the street

Our coffee shop

So familiar and layered with the dust of time, making it seem like a tradition-lost in time until the season returns again.



Back at my laptop, I’m back to the now and the winter of my heart.

Wondering, what is a beautiful woman?

A week ago, reading through 1 Peter 3:1-6, my heart leapt hold of something.



Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 4 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. 5 For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, 6 like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.



I’m not a wife, but I sure am a woman. Peter speaks about the ‘holy women of the past who put their hope in God.’ What a beautiful image of a woman. Her grace, her charm is her heart buried into the Lord as she hopes in Him.

I pictured my life as a tree. The tree stops growing its fruit in the winter. The sugar from the sun no longer reaches through the body of the tree. But the roots grow down deep in the winter. The biggest root of them all, the anchor root, buries in the rich soil.



This anchor root for a woman is her hope in God.



Here is her strength.



From Hope in God comes the ability to persevere in spite of suffering. She is able to trust in the state of unknown. From Hope in God comes a noble woman, a Proverbs 31 woman:



She is clothed with strength and dignity;

she can laugh at the days to come. (Verse 25).



She can laugh at the future: to be carefree, knowing the Lord is directing her steps.



What a beautiful portrait of a woman. Hope in God. Gentle and Quiet Spirit. Persevere in Suffering. Trust and Laugh. Lord, that you’d make me as her.