Beauty Destroys the Beast

Beauty Destroys the Beast

Beauty Destroys the Beast

Amy Fleming

Copyright © 2019 by Amy Fleming

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

All Scripture quotations from the NASB.

First Printing: 2019

ISBN:  978-0-359-68941-5

e-book publishing:  Lulu.com

www.Hearthrose.com

Cover Art copyright:  2019, Thomas Coughlin-Jaroug

With Thanks….

… to my husband Robert, who encourages me every step of the way

… to my first readers, Terry and Leigh, who listen to my nonsense and kick me in the pants

… to my second readers, Chris, Kim, Betsy, and Sherrie, who pointed out the places I was weak and made me write more clearly

… to my editor, Alice.  You are a marvel!

… to my dear friend and cover artist, Tom.   You dug out my dreams and put them on paper

… to my employers, for giving me permission to use some space before work to get this done

… And always to God.   For it is His words that you are reading.  His hands who arranged every situation so that I could spend the hours working on this book.  His holy discomfort with enough that forced me to keep moving when I’d have given up on this writing gig.   I am His, and this book is His to do with as He wishes.   I pray that it does change the world… but that’s up to Him (and to you, dear reader) not me!

Table of Contents

Prologue – Once Upon A Time

Introduction – Beauty Destroys the Beast

Fairy Tales and the Word

The Parable of the Talents

The World is Dark

What is Beauty For?

Clothing has Intrinsic Worth

Strength and Dignity are Her Clothing

Making a Home for Beauty Requires Effort

What is Beauty?

Color

Beauty as Ambassador

Ways to Get Off-Track

Gifts Make Us Uncomfortable

Raw Materials

The Physical Reality

Created for a Purpose

Theological Knots

God is Never the Author of Evil

Self-Worth

The Lamps

Modesty

Good Men and the Not So Good

Immodesty

Headcoverings

Clothing Fit for the Occasion

Keep Up with the Current Clothing Vocabulary

Maintenance

It is what it is

Becoming Comfortable in Your Skin

Waistlines

Exercise

Skin, Hair, Nails

Adornments

Finding Your Style

Dressing Your Mission

Dressing for Others – General

Dressing for Others – Husbands

Dressing for Others – Courting

Dressing for the Stay-at-Home-Mom

Planning a Wardrobe

Putting it Together

A Hunger for Truth

Create Beauty

Defending Beauty

Appendix

Prologue:  Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time there was a woman just like you.  Just like me.  She sat in a prison of darkness and misery, chained to a wall with no way out.   And then one day she heard a whisper from a far cell, a whisper that there was a rescuer, who would come to aid if she only called for Him.   She hated her prison cell, hated the stinking fog that filled it, hated the feel of the chains on her limbs.  And so she cried out… Please, save me!

The High King broke into her prison, shattered her chains, and brought her out into freedom.  It was the first time she’d ever seen the open sky.   As soon as they were outside the prison gates, He rode off, promising to be there at her need.   As He rode off, He tossed her a knapsack, saying, Here are the new clothes I have made for all of my children.   Throw away the filthy rags you made for yourself in jail, and put on what you find inside.   You’re a princess as of today, those old things won’t do.  There’s work to be done – and I’ve supplied you with everything you need, and will continue to do so.   In the knapsack, she found new clothes, armor, and a sword.   There was a bit of broken bread and a skin of wine, as well as the most beautiful pendant she’d ever seen.

The woman put the pendant on, changed her clothes, and looked at the armor and sword in dismay.  I’m not strong enough to fight!  I don’t know how to wear this stuff, and I don’t know how to use that!  What on earth did He give me these things for? 

A Voice from her pendant replied, I will be your strength.  Armor up.   The Voice sounded exactly like the High King’s voice, so startled as she was, the woman strapped into her armor. 

She’d been standing alone on a small meadow near the prison, but as she looked around her, she realized that there was a battle raging, as it quickly came and overtook her position.   Somehow, word of this had never reached her prison cell.   As she saw the fight, she stopped being reluctant to have some protection, and she took up her shield.

Now what?, she said to herself.   I’m still no warrior – and I don’t know how to get to a safe place!   The arrows whistled by her head, and they seemed to whisper the same words she’d heard in her prison cell.   When she’d been in jail, the voices had whispered from the fog that this was the best she could ever expect, that nothing would ever change, that the one who ran the prison was the same one who ran the world – and that he owned it, and her.   The whispers had told her to go along with the ugliness around her to get through the endless, painful days.   The words had slipped through the fog in the prison and weakened her, and she recognized their touch, even though they could no longer sink home.   

You’re weak.  You’re ugly.  You’ll never make a difference.  Best to play it safe.  Better make the others like you, or they’ll turn and stab you in the back.

Our heroine cringed in remembered pain.  I’m glad that the King rescued me, and I can’t wait for this battle to be over, so I can go to His country and be happy and at peace.  I don’t like it here at all!   I thought that with Him, I’d find safety at last.

The arrows whispered, He lied to you, it was safe in the prison.  But the next best thing is to hide behind your shield, stand still, and you won’t get hurt… ...much. She heard the sound of laughter in the wind.

Another soldier saw her standing there frozen and called out, What’s the matter? 

I’m trying not to get hurt!, she cried.

That’s not the way of it – don’t you see that you’re going to get stuck where you stand?  We’re here to fight – safety is for later!   The enemy has caused you to fear.  Listen to your pendant – it’s the Voice of our Lord, it’s one of the ways He communicates with us.

The woman blinked, and turned to the pendant on her chest, Lord?  What am I supposed to do?  I’m scared!

Fear is not of the Lord.  Don’t be afraid of the enemy.  The war has already been won, but I need you to do your part.  There are more captives to be freed, your fellow soldiers to assist, little ones to raise up – there is quite a lot of work to be done on this field before you’ll come Home to me.   I’ve equipped you for a specific task – get to it!  And the woman learned what she was to do.  

Even though she’d been given a job by her Lord, our heroine spent a lot of time trying to imitate the other soldiers in their jobs.   She felt safer imitating than in taking new ground.   Having not been equipped to do what they did, she ended up feeling completely inadequate, questioning if those voices in the wind hadn’t been telling the truth about her after all.   Maybe she was weak, stupid, and ugly – she certainly wasn’t much of a princess or a warrior.   What her Lord had told her to do was break her best friend out of bondage.   But returning to the heart of the prison that she’d once lived in terrified her.

One day, another soldier took her aside.   After they shared bread and wine, the older solider asked the woman, Why are you imitating us?  I know you have a different assignment and I can see that you’ve been given the necessary skills.

I’m not strong enough – and there’s no way I can break back into that prison – it’s too well guarded.

Their pendants spoke again, I will be your strength, and I will be your shield.  Don’t worry about being attacked.

The older solider looked at our heroine with compassion in her eyes.   So many of us on the battlefield are crippled because of fear.   Don’t let that be you.   Go do what you’ve been equipped to do.   He’s telling the truth – He always does.   He’ll multiply your efforts.  Go, do as He has said.

And so she did.   The King was faithful, though the battle raged on, nothing touched the woman.   Our heroine ran into the prison, raised up her sword, and the prisoners screamed, NO!

Shocked, she slammed to a halt.  Who wouldn’t want freedom?   Her pendant spoke silently to her heart, It is everyone’s right to choose whom they will serve, choose between freedom and slavery.   You can’t use My sword on their bonds until they call My Name.

The woman asked the first person she found, Why won’t you let me cut your bonds?

Yours are worse!  You are endangered, impoverished, and stupid.

Another prisoner chimed in, We know that you had to sacrifice too much of what we enjoy for your so-called freedom.  Who wants that?

And then another, We’ll be killed if we go out there.  It’s safe here.  You’re a traitor.  The one who runs this place is very angry with you.  I don’t want him angry with me – it’s bad enough as it is.  And anyway, if it was so good out there, why did you come back?  You didn’t do it for us, don’t pretend.  There’s no such thing as unselfish love.

More and more voices were raised, until our heroine couldn’t stand it one more moment.  Who told you these lies?, she screamed.

And from the back of the room came a voice, Don’t you remember me, ugly weak girl?  You belonged to me once, and you always will.   Our heroine, protected by the belt of Truth, wasn’t having any of that nonsense, but she could see the prisoners nodding.  She’s just like us!   

She started looking for the source of the lies, but the prison was so gloomy that she couldn’t find it.  

Let your light shine before men, so that they can see the glory of God, spoke her pendant.

How do I do that, Lord?

You rolled in the mud outside to keep yourself hidden.  Wash it off.  Use the gift that I gave you.

But you said that I couldn’t use the sword on their bonds yet?

No, child.   Use yourself.  I made you beautiful.  I put My light in your heart – you are now My temple.   Beauty will soften their hearts, and My light will illuminate the corners of this evil place.

But if I do that, I will have to show them myself!  I’m not nearly who I ought to be.   What if they hate me?  I’m so ugly.

That’s a lie from the enemy, child.   I’ve made you to reflect Me, and one of My Names is Beautiful.

The woman gulped, but she did as she was told.   She washed off the camouflage, the mud that was supposed to make her look like everyone else.   She shined up her breastplate of righteousness, and allowed herself to become transparent, so her Lord’s light could clearly be seen.   The prisoners saw the real woman, and they gasped – even the ones that had known her the longest.    This was someone they wanted to emulate.

She raised her sword again, and the Light of her Lord swept into the corners, where she saw the creeping beast cowering in a corner, spitting defiance and hatred.   Truly, the denizens of the dark hate anyone who lives in the light.   It was so much smaller than she’d imagined.  She remembered when she’d believed its lies, and she was filled with holy rage as she chopped off its ugly head.  

After she cleaned off her blade, she looked around, she said, Won’t any of you accept freedom now?

It took a while, and our heroine had to live in that prison and let the other women get to know her Lord through her actions and see His shining light reflected in her face, but one by one, nearly all of the captives chose to allow their chains to be broken.    As each captive shed her shackles, the light grew brighter.

It is the Truth that sets us free, Jesus who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.   But when the world around us has been sunk into darkness, we must first fight with Light.   Our world, like the world in the story, is full of darkness.    It’s fogged up so that you can hardly see for the lies that surround us.   Christianity and the good name of Jesus Christ have been misrepresented.  

Each of us was created by the same Hands that made the most beautiful butterfly, the most exquisite peony.    We have been given a tool to use to pierce the hearts of those around us, to break into their darkness for the King. 

Beauty can destroy the beast of lies……… and isn’t that what she was always for?

John 3:16-21 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.  For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.

Introduction:  Beauty Destroys the Beast

A thousand voices cursing.  Ten thousand pieces of trash.  Engines roaring, horns beeping, the smell of asphalt and urine.  Humans costumed to speak out the anger and pain within their hearts.   Galloping nihilism.  Nothing matters!  "Life is