‘Your Wife is Beautiful’ is the title for this week’s newsletter, I proudly announced to my wife.
“Why not call it ‘Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder’? or ‘You are Beautiful’?” my wife inquired. She was trying to be inclusive of those readers who are not married to the mother of their children.
“No”, I said, “I want men to marry the woman they love, the mother of their children. When a man slips a ring on a woman’s finger and says, “I do”, for that man his wife is indeed the most beautiful woman in the world. More than anything else, every woman needs to hear these words from the man of her dreams.
Audacious words you say!
I’m going to give you 64 million reasons why your wife needs to be told everyday she is beautiful. I’m talking about the Dove cosmetics ‘Real Beauty’ Sketch on YouTube that has over 64 million hits.
This would have to be one of the most brilliant, heart-warming adverts I have ever seen before in my life. I talked it over with a friend of mine who has worked in the advertising industry for almost four decades and we both agree that it could be one of the best brand advertisements we have ever seen.
However you might say, “But Warwick, I’m a man and a father and I don’t need to hear stuff about real beauty. that’s women’s stuff!”
Wrong, wrong and wrong again. The greatest thing a father can do for his children is to love his children’s mother. this is your great assignment, as it is mine. If you love her you will be willing to help answer her deepest question, am I beautiful?
John and Stasi Eldredge wrote a book called ‘Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul’. Here is a summation of this bestselling book:
“Every woman was once a little girl. And every little girl holds in her heart her most precious dreams. She longs to be swept up into a romance, to play an irreplaceable role in a great adventure, to be the beauty of the story. Those desires are far more than child’s play. They are the secret to the feminine heart.
And yet―how many women do you know who ever find that life? As the years pass by, the heart of a woman gets pushed aside, wounded, buried. She finds no romance except in novels, no adventure except on television, and she doubts very much that she will ever be the Beauty in any tale.
Stasi Eldredge goes on to say in ‘Captivating’, “Beauty is transcendent. It is our most immediate experience of the eternal. Think of what it’s like to behold a gorgeous sunset or the ocean at dawn. Remember the ending of a great story. We yearn to linger, to experience it all our days. Sometimes the beauty is so deep it pierces us with longing. For what? For life as it was meant to be. Beauty reminds us of an Eden we have never known, but somehow our hearts were created for.” John Eldredge in the same book says, “Because she bears the image of God. A woman doesn’t have to conjure it, go get it from a salon, have plastic surgery or breast implants. No, beauty is an essence that is given to every woman at her creation.”
Gil Zamore, sketch artist in the Dove commercial, talks about the emotion and joy of doing the sketches. He also talks as a father about “having a daughter myself and how it all kind of hit home”. This is another reason the First Date video by father, Aaron Dickson, is such a wonderful illustration of why a father’s love is so important.
Florence, single mother of two, is one of the subjects who was sketched. Florence talks about having a low self esteem and how she “chose the wrong jobs, the wrong husbands and blamed everybody else. I tried to find myself by ‘what you thought of me’ instead of being my authentic self . . . My father was emotionally very, very distant and so was my mum”.
Kela, a 40 year old mother, shares her doubts, fear and joys which gives further weight to Stasi Eldredge’s words.
Melinda, a young 26 year old woman bravely shares her journey.
If watching Dove’s ‘Beauty Sketches’ doesn’t help you realise your wife needs to hear the words that she is the most beautiful woman in the world every day, then perhaps John Eldredge’s thoughts will:
“Every woman in her heart of hearts longs for three things: to be romanced, to play an irreplaceable role in a great adventure, and to unveil beauty. That’s what makes a woman come alive.”
Lovework
Take the seven day beauty challenge: every day for seven days, tell your wife she is beautiful.
At the end of the week ask her how she feels and then listen while she tells you.
After all, where does true beauty come from?
Yours for more beautiful women
Warwick Marsh
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