THE BATTLE OF BEAUTY

Time comes for us all...

• Isaiah 40:8: “The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever.”

  Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

  It appears that beauty can be combat!

  I have in recent weeks, been simmering on the nature of beauty, both physical and spiritual and, as per my temperament as a deep philosophical and spiritual thinker. It certainly appears that the beauty dimensions are getting darker and more troubling.

  I read recently about direct and online battles between “Influencers”, who are often high fashion devotees, usually women, who drive an interest toward a style, a clothing type, a hair and makeup type, a certain “ presentation “ of the physical self, that for someone like me, does not resonate.

  There is “competition” for “beautier than thou”, an ephemeral dimension if there ever was one. This is way past high school cliques...this is violence.

  I also read recently that one Influencer actually killed another Influencer, after a fist-fight with her, mowing the lady down the loaded weapon of a moving CAR.

  Two lives ruined, one dead, one arrested and charged with murder in London.

  Other Influencers are being murdered by violent men, sometimes on livestreams.

  This is one more revealing of the darkness around us.

  The sorrowful emptiness of the soul is evident here, the overwhelming focus on the surface and not the broken heart underneath the exterior, both for women and men. The competition is for who has the most admirers, who is the sexiest, as women especially seem to be egged on to be more and more provacative. The devil is of course, in the middle of all this, as he exploits human weakness, 24/7, from the selling of physical desire. As sadly promiscuous as I was in my youth, the reality falls far short of the promise, or it certainly did for me! Worthless!

  I have have long thought that some women who are considered great beauties, are sought by powerful men, as if they are possessions and for the display of their beauty. For the women especially, it sometimes does not end well, either. There can be domestic violence, being thrown away when they begin to show flaws or get older, this is as sad as it can get. This is flat-out a control issue.

  Women are especially under incredible compunction to do things: lose that, firm this, comb that, fluff this, do this, don’t do that, live on lettuce and obey the dictates of the REALM of beauty, as if it is a “god”. From childhood, girls are told they are inadequate and just no darn good.

• Women also have, at times, a serious pecking order, predominantly in high school.

  For me in high school, I stayed far clear of pecks...they were hurtful, hateful and filled with the angst of being female, as bleeding once a month for 35 or 40 years is a very primal thing, filled with both pain and promise far off. High school cliques were dominant: the Soc group ( “sosh”, the high profile social butterflies, usually girls), the jocks ( sports folks, both boys and girls), the brainiacs, and the freaks (mine.)

  The groups did not mix, no detente!

  Society always has its clans, formations, tribes, thoughtforms, formal-informal structures, in- crowd and out-crowd and the left behind ( I know the latter quite well and why I have such a kinship with Isaiah 61:1, in the exhortation to “bind up the brokenhearted.” )

  I feel certain the intensive push on women is also placed on men, from a diametrically different pose: PRODUCE, COMPETE, CRUSH THE COMPETITION, BE THE BIG MAN OVER ALL...and ad nauseum. No wonder many men die before women!

  Pressure is on us all...and too much to politely ignore.

  Psalm 23 is a balm to the soul and spirit...as who has not “ walked through the valley of the shadow of death”...

  Personally, despite the exterior pressures, I think beauty reveals a longing to be loved...to be honored as valuable, to be cherished, to be appreciated for the gifts God gave us but not to be worshiped. Worship is for God alone, not humans. Love, however, is a needed feeding of the sorrowful soul, one I know intimately. All of us get slammed by life, we get wounded, we get harmed, we get defeated. The world is getting harder and harder to keep up with and hence, my own intensifying focus on inner beauty as well, as that, when founded and based on God and His Son, is eternal and does not fade away.

• God meets us in whatever place we are. I remember Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch woman whose family hid fleeing Jews in WW2. She and her family were eventually caught by the Nazis. Her Father died, Corrie and her sister were imprisoned in Ravensbruck women’s concentration camp in Germany. Corrie’s sister died in the camp and Corrie was later accidentally released. She later spoke of directly finding God’s presence in the midst of horror. She chronicled this in “The Hiding Place” book, a phenomenal book and she went on to be a world wide evangelist for years!

  God meets you where you are, unmistakably, clearly, one day, one step. Transformation does not occur immediately...but it does happen and is happening to me as I speak. Just hang out with God! Ask questions, pour out your heart, begin to form a relationship with the One Who made you. It is astonishing…

  Wendy Elizabeth Williams, Friday, May 1, 2026

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  --Consider donating any amount from $1 and up on my Ko-fi page, Ko-fi.com/wendyelizabethwilliams. You can donate one time, periodically or monthly, as you prefer. On my Ko-fi page, I am also creating a shorter writing piece per week, focusing mainly on my life-long love of all things fabric, garments, beauty and the centuries-long battles between men and women. After I get my weekly longer piece up on Substack on Friday nights, I then place my shorter Ko-fi piece up also on Notes. This week, my piece speaks of “Elder Beauty, fails and soars.” I am reflecting on myself through this, at age 73 1/2. If we are blessed to live long enough, we will be old...get used to it and embrace the years of experience! Yes, Elders are quite beautiful in a different way!

  --Please pray for me! Thank you, Wendy