Each man carries a vision of a perfect woman. Sometimes a man reveals bits and pieces of his vision as he talks with peers. In break rooms, locker rooms, and other gathering spots, men can be found talking about what they “like” in a woman’s appearance.

 

Where do you get your vision of the perfect woman? There are many sources to search. You can page through certain magazines or catalogs. You might search the glossy, blow-dried images that crowd along the checkout lines of countless stores.

 

You could survey the flickering images on a video screen. These are just a few of the places where a man might look to find his image of the perfect woman. But searching does not always result in finding the best vision.

 

Long ago one man found his vision of perfect, female loveliness. He said this about her:

 

“How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince’s daughter! Your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of a craftsman’s hands. Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine. Your waist is a mound of wheat encircled by lilies. Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle… How beautiful you are and how pleasing, O love, with your delights!… May your breasts be like the clusters of the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples, and your mouth like the best wine” (Song 7:1-9).

 

This ancient writer of the Bible discovered his image of feminine perfection in the woman he chose to marry. In his lover and wife to be, he found his vision of all that makes a woman beautiful. He draws a very personal picture by comparing his love’s form to familiar objects like goblets, fawns and jewels.

 

The vision is so personal that, at times, it’s hard to get inside this man’s head. More than once I have heard audiences snicker as conference speakers tried to talk their way around the “waist as a mound of wheat” image. But that’s OK. This passage is one man’s personal vision of womanly beauty. So what if his eyes yearn for something special and different from the Hollywood image? The writer of the Song of Songs is exercising his right as a man to find ideal beauty in the one he loves.

 

A man demonstrates his manliness as he sees beauty in the woman he chooses in keeping with God’s commands. A man empowered by God’s spirit doesn’t bow down in acceptance of the false beauty being hawked on the magazine racks and in the video markets. He is his own man, charting his own course, finding beauty in the woman he chooses before God.

 

My dog Bernie, is not very choosy about what she eats. That shaggy spaniel will wolf down just about anything I toss into her dish. I’m afraid too many of us follow Bernie’s example. Many men swallow up pictures of femininity generated from businesses that only want inside their wallets. They scarf down the manufactured images and cough up the dollars that keep those corrupt industries running. But we are not dogs. We are men.

 

Years ago I saw a speaker stand behind a podium and announce: “I want to introduce you to the most beautiful woman in the world.” As you would expect, the men in the auditorium perked up like a labrador hearing a rustle in the bushes. No one wanted to miss a glimpse of the world’s most beautiful woman.

 

When the speaker invited this beauty to stand, our eyes anticipated what loveliness we might see. And then she stood. It was the speaker’s wife, looking a little flattered, a little embarrassed and very much in love with the man behind the podium.

 

Had I just seen the most beautiful woman? Though she was nice looking., I wasn’t quite ready to crown her Mrs. Universe. Yet I saw in the event something far more important for me at that time. I saw an example of a man who exercised his ability under God to take his wife as his personal image of the ideal woman for him.

 

Each husband can take his wife into his heart and make her his vision of female beauty. We have the ability—and the calling.

 

Proverbs 5 begins with a warning of the terrible death of adultery. As the text moves, it turns a corner and rises to a mountaintop with these words:

 

“May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer—may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love” (Prov. 5:18-19).

 

What a delicious calling! Have you fantasized about your wife lately? Have you ever felt a smile come over your face as you mentally brush aside all those false images of beauty and allow the vision of your wife’s loveliness fill your thoughts?

 

Avoiding sexual temptation is not just a matter of “don’t think, don’t look, don’t touch.” Along with the “don’ts,” God gives us wonderful “do’s.” He gives each married man the invitation and shouts, “Go ahead! Take the wife of your youth and embrace her and let yourself be taken in by her love!”

 

Like you, I have the calling and joy of choosing my ideal of perfect femininity. I can see the most beautiful woman. The overwhelming sight and fragrance of her loveliness is as close as my thoughts and as near as my touch. All I have to do is turn to my love, my wife, and open my eyes… and there she is.