To Captivate

If you're looking for a compliment, you won't easily find one at the El Cristo Viene girl's home. Flattery is a waste of breath and words for these ones. Physical defects such as the large zit on your chin or the mole that sticks out on your neck are open topics for discussion...they're even willing to pop the pimple and pull off the mole for you. Weight is a popular target for chatter and nick names are more often created on the basis of some weakness, physical or otherwise, that you may have. One of my nicknames is "Palo" and that would mean "Stick".

After having my haircut and coloured in Cochabamba, I returned to the home and several girls made it very clear that they did not like my "nueva look". One girl began to call me "paja", which means straw and the rest highly recommended that I grow it long and one length. Let's just say that if you have self-esteem issues over your physical appearance, you won't leave our home feeling confident in your appearance.

I admit that I spend time each day straightening my hair and putting on make-up. I think about how I look through-out the day and will do an occasional check-up on the hair status. The hair review is essential. Fingers constantly rake their way through my hair during the day as the girls, in their habitual way of lice-checking, automatically search their neighbor's scalp.

People bug me about being too concerned about my appearance or spending too much time in front of the mirror. After reading "Captivating" (Stasi and John Eldridge), I realize that this is a current that runs through most women. We want to be beautiful. Those ladies who shun this idea have lost, in some way, the essence of their womanhood. We're not talking beauty as defined by Hollywood, your mother, or the loser kid who sat behind you in math class. It's a magnetic, drawing force that eminates from within a heart that is committed to her Creator. It is a recognition that although God names Himself Father and identifies Himself as male, that we are also made in His image. Those deep seated tendancies that guys like to dismiss as "Women!" are rooted in the One who made us. We like flowers, perfumes, and new clothes. Typically we want to talk things out and save friendships, guarding them like a heirloom without price. We are women and we have our quirks.

Captivate is the word that most stays with me after finishing the book. It's the title and rightly so. Our role as women is to captivate the people in our lives, particularly men. Not just boyfriends or husbands, but all men. Not just in a sexual way, but in platonic and philadelphia ways. As Christ dwells in us, we become more and more captivating to those around us. Females can be catty and downright nasty. We can be pushovers and withdrawn as well. What we are originally programmed to do is captivate. It's there, inside each one of us, somewhere. I love the line in Song of Songs that says, "You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride, you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes."

My sisters, my fellow bearers of estrogen, I encourage us to seek what it means for us to be more captivating...we will uncover it as we look for more of Christ. Men, read the book. If you want to get the females in your life, please, read the book.