To All The "Beautiful Women" In My Life...

I sent the video clip of Celtic Women out yesterday. Many of you have seen it by now. If you missed it for some reason, try here: God Gives Us Strength: Celtic Woman - You Raise Me Up

One such beautiful woman did see and listen to it and wrote back:

"This brought tears to my eyes. I loved it so I went and ordered it! I already have one CD of the Celtic Woman and I play it often. I am looking forward to getting this new one. By the way, IMHO, I believe a woman's true beauty is not her face or her body but instead is in her voice and how she uses it. These ladies are extraordinarily beautiful!"

While trying to sort my thoughts to reply in my normal BS manner, I found the depth of the subject too great for that. The following tumbled out instead:

I just plain love women in general, however, the voice of an angel is but a small part of the true beauty of a woman. I pity those women who have given up the lilting sound of an angel for the coarse nag of the fishwife; those who have looked outward so much that they have lost touch with the gold that is inside, who have forgotten that they are mysteriously and wonderfully made by an all wise God. A mother tenderly breast feeding a child, has got to be the epitome of what is good and wonderful in this world, the very essence of love and devotion. The only thing of equivalent worth a man can do is to love them more than himself and lay down his life to protect them if need be.

The longer I live, the more astonished I am as to the length, depth and breadth of womanhood. The first inkling of that wisdom came when I realized that a woman could take me to incredible places that I could not go on my own. If a voice or physical beauty were the only attributes of which women could boast, there would not be the countless millions of men, both young and old, who love them and often worship the very ground on which they stand even though a woman's mantle of years may reach near to her feet. No, women are so very much more than a pretty face, a delightful composite of curves or an aura of sultry sexuality. I am 66 now and, were I to live another ten lifetimes and devote myself exclusively to documenting that which is a woman, it would not be nearly enough time, nor would I be able to touch their real essence. I can think of no other creature on earth who can touch a man so deeply and be so vital to his well being that the mere sound of her moving in another room can provide soothing comfort to his troubled mind and spirit. And what incredible power they have! They can mend or melt with a soft murmur or a smile; or they can utterly destroy with a single word or even a look of disappointment carelessly directed.

I learned early on that women were an integral part of my life, though that scope has broadened immeasurably from my radically hormone-charged youth to my more or less older and wiser adulthood. I feel deep sadness for those women who do not respect themselves enough to restrict their favors and become hollow receptacles for callus men. To be intimate with a woman is not to be taken lightly. That closeness should engender a certain shared respect, tenderness and responsibility to both parties. If it does not, then it is merely mutual masturbation without hands. When a woman lovingly invites a man into her body it IS a VERY big deal, or should be, as the man joins with her spirit as well as well as her body. Some women with an extraordinary capacity for love share their very soul with their mate during that closeness. That is a priceless gift far beyond anything else found on earth.

It remains for men to love women as best they can and be rough and ready to do violence to protect them. Not really the high calling assigned to women, but essential to permit them the freedom to be that which God intended.

Thank you for being a "beautiful woman" in my life. All those I know seem to have been constructed with an extra measure of the quintessence of womanhood and are seemingly immune to the Pneumatic Cranial Syndrome I see so often today. Women able to think with the entirety of their being are not all that common. I am the most fortunate of men.