beauty and women.

*just as a warning, this is me processing thoughts that have come to me today, and they aren't backed up with scripture. its pure processing. if you would like to add scripture to back up/refute any point, be my guest :)*

so, i have had all these random thoughts today. this morning, i thought about the concept of beauty. what it is, but more what it means to me as a woman. when you think about many women in the old testament, they did do things to make themselves more lovely. i mean, obviously, true beauty is from within. honestly. i feel like some of the most BEAUTIFUL women i know don't wear makeup or spend hours in front of the mirror. they have this incredible joy for life that just makes them so...lovely.
but, what i'm wondering, is, when we (as women) don't take care of ourselves, are we lessening how we were created? (i don't have scripture or anything like that to back this up). i mean, we were created as beautiful. so, shouldn't i take pride in that? not in an inapproriate way, but i shouldn't hide how god created me, either. i just see so many women who dress in potato sacks and its like...no, its not about the outside. i don't know. i don't mean this in a judgemental way.

secondly, i did an informal poll at work today at women's roles in the church, and whether they should preach. let me say that i do not believe women should preach. funny though, both men said no, all the women said yes. interesting. i feel like whenever i have tried to lead men (like in a small group setting), it has turned out horribly. because as a leader, i have an agenda. and i often experienced men attempting to lead. it was frustrating for me at the time, but i now see how i actually was taking away from their role as men. i don't want to be a hinderance to that, you know? i feel like there are so few men who are true men because women take over roles that were not intended for them, but for men. does that make sense?

anyway, these are my thoughts. i think they will go somewhere eventually.
the end.