Authentic Femininity: Favour

The following is a guest post from Tracey at Girls to Grow ~ thank you Tracey!

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“Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain:  but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.”  Proverbs 31:30

I am learning that many important conversations with my children take place in the car.  On the way to school one morning last week, my seven-year-old daughter asked me what the word “favour” meant in the verse above.  Having no internet to click on or dictionary to open, I tried to pull the best translation I could out of mid-air.  “It’s similar to popularity,” is what I came up with, and, even at the tender age of seven, she grasped that concept.

The more I thought about our conversation, the more I realized, despite the possible misinterpretation of the actual Hebrew word, that my definition applies to the truth of the verse nonetheless.  Certainly popularity with men and women – be they adults or first graders – is deceitful.  No woman’s true worth can be based on her beauty or outward appearance, nor on how favoured she is by other people.  Rather, her value comes from fearing the Lord.  He is the One who can give her the love, joy and peace that radiates from her heart and encourages her family and fellow Christians.  While there is nothing inherently wrong in seeking to make our outside attractive, much more time should be spent on our personal walk with the Lord as we seek His face in prayer and study His Word.

The lesson that spoke to my heart through that brief question from my daughter was this:  True femininity is not based on popularity, a lovely face or a new outfit.  It comes from a relationship with God that brings honor and glory to Him and praise from Him – which is the most rewarding thing I can attain.