Hephzibah

It's probably a good idea for me to explain what in the world the name of this blog means. "Hephzibah" is a Hebrew word for the phrase "my delight is in her". I've seen it used in several places, but my ultimate inspiration for choosing it as an identifier for this site is a segment from the Bible - the book Isaiah, specifically. The segment reads:

The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah (married); for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married. As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

If you read the entire 62nd chapter of Isaiah, where this segment is found, you'll notice from the context that the speaker is actually talking to and about an entire nation of people. However, I see parallels between the story of this people and the story of my own life (and the lives of others I know) that make me okay with using the word Hephzibah in the way I'm using it throughout this blog. The little nation has been through a lot. They've been conquered, exiled, enslaved. To any outsider - and, who am I kidding, to themselves - they didn't look fortunate or blessed or prosperous or however you'd want to say it. They looked deserted, haggard, and forsaken. Now, as ridiculous as this sounds, given that I am surrounded by amazing family and friends and living a relatively prosperous life in the worldly sense, I am naturally prone to feeling this same way under certain circumstances. I've been rejected and passed up by guys I've had major interest in, then felt deserted. I've watched them pursue women I thought were so much more vibrant/good-looking/put-together than I, and then felt absolutely haggard. I've had my heart broken to where I was sick, and felt forsaken not only by a man, but also by the God I claimed to love and desire above all else. It was in these dark moments, especially over the past couple of years, that I heard those words in Isaiah spoken so sweetly and personally to me the most.

Take another look at them. You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God... The Lord will take delight in you... As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. My God - my Creator, the only one with the authority to dictate my worth - calls me a splendorous crown. He will and does rejoice over and celebrate me. What I look like, my "desirability factor", has nothing to do with His insane love or the blessings and good things He chooses to give. His delight is in me. His delight is in YOU. Your spirit, your essence. Nobody can take that away from us. We have got to open our eyes and hearts, and see.

That is what Hephzibah means.

You are beautiful.

My argument for the truth of this statement presupposes a couple of pretty big things. First: there exists a being infinitely greater than you and I. Second: you were created by said Being.

I have no idea where you stand on the question of whether or not a God exists, but I've got to tell you, I'm convinced we wouldn't be here, as we are, if there were no God. We're just too complex. I don't mean only physically, which we are, but I'm thinking mostly about the stuff we're made of that can't be seen - thoughts, emotions, memories. I think you and I were created as souls and given the bodies into which we were born. This is the beginning of our beauty.

We can choose to be ugly people who do ugly things, but when it comes down to what's at our base, the fact that we were made, with love, with our Creator's ID stamped on our souls, and given a marvelous array of emotions and characteristics, means that we are beautiful. I think it's sad that we've all been confused by our societies' ideals of physical beauty (whatever that is); many of us are confused into believing we are worth less than others when we don't meet those ideals.

I've often found myself secretly wishing to change certain things about myself, and all so "that certain guy I like would find me attractive and not move on to that pretty girl over there". How often have you thought, if only my hair were just a little less tightly curled, or my waist smaller, or my legs longer, or my face rounder, or my calves bigger, or my fingernails shapelier, or...? Stop. Enough. We're getting it all wrong. You're already a magnificent creature. Now claim it and stop allowing people and circumstances to make you believe you are anything less. It's silly. We're wasting time worrying about our beauty, something that is already settled, when we could be using that time cultivating and growing this natural beauty. And helping others hurting around us to do the same.

Please know that you are beautiful, and you are worth more than you could ever comprehend.