A Better Woman

"She makes me want to be a better man."

I hear this term often, from guys, from boys, from girls relating what their guys have said to them. And it's true. The right woman should make a man want to be more man, a better man, to excel and do his best. Not that I'm going all Wild at Heart here, mind you, because while that book has a couple of good points I believe it distracts somewhat from truth. But this basic principle holds. Eve was Adam's support (men will say "helper"). In all her beauty, as the crowning glory of all creation, she was there to help Adam be a better man, and to glorify God in her own right. It's a reason to support each other; in a perfect world, men and women of the kingdom will help each other both become fully ourselves (who we've been created to be) and to fully glorify God.

We, women, all have this desire rooted in us, to help men become better men. It is the delivery that has become perverted. We sit up straighter, we do ourselves up, we nag, we hold on too tight. Obviously we get somehow that beauty is one of the things that spur men to become better men, but what kind of beauty? I think Eve was probably the most beautiful woman this earth has ever seen, wild and calming and striking and like home all at the same time. But the Bible never once notes her physical beauty.

And, in the end, I believe we try too hard to become beautiful by our relation to men, as that is what is ingrained in us. Perhaps this is a perversion as well? We are not beautiful only in relation to men, but are able to support men because we are already beautiful. We fail to realize that, most likely, what made Eve the most beautiful was her relation to God as the creator of all beauty as well as all strength. It is only in regaining this lost relation that we become more and more beautiful.

Men, it is not only the delivery that has been perverted but the reception as well. What kind of beauty spurs you to become better men? How often do I meet a man that makes me want to be a better woman?