She was not virginal in her purity. Not completely. Not like the younger maidens working near her to glean in the master’s field. She had been married before; she had been known.

And she came to him in the dead of night, where he rested, in obedience to her mother-in-law’s advice. Advice that put her in a very prone position. He could choose to further mar her reputation or he could choose to respectfully protect it.

And he could have chosen another woman from among so many. A younger woman. A non-foreign woman. A richer woman. A previously-unmarried woman.

But he saw her. And he chose her. And he protected her with his own robe, his own presence, and later his own follow-up actions. Until he could bring her home as his bride.

The woman he loved. The woman he saw as beautiful and pure. The one he had been waiting his whole life to meet and cherish.

Today, in honor of this couple and the renewal of physical purity through the eyes of love, a third short poem.

~ Purity 3: Ruth ~

Numbing-cold. The sandy soil,

Chaff-dusted, nipped at my skimming feet,

Bare after my sandals slipped off

Against my palms, to cancel flapping

Alarms. Shivering, in my fear-hope,

I lay at his feet and prayed he would wake

On his own. And ask that I stay — that only.

Nothing more. Unless there could be more.

But how could there?

Unless he covered me?

Yes. Unless he covered me…

And then He covered me!

So, ever after, I was to be His: clean.

Next in this series on purity, we pause to consider the power of beauty via emotional purity. According to Genesis 12, Sarah was exceptionally physically beautiful, even as she aged. Yet, she is more fondly remembered and rightly praised in 1 Peter 3 for her projected image of one with a gentle and quiet spirit, living in a proper and good sense of humility and obedience. Certainly she laughed and doubted and jumped the gun. But in the end, she learned how to master her feelings and accept her assigned place in life with hope.

This sounds foreign to me as a modern American woman. But when I dig deeper, I see this is not just an antiquated cultural demand. No. According to Peter, such submission shines from a pure heart, from an honest-core self that wants good and chooses service for the sake of those who are loved. Will there be fear, negative reactions, and mistakes? Yes. But inner beauty lights a woman’s face and shines through the storms of life (and marriage) like low car beams glowing through a dark, snowy drive.

We do not know exactly what Sarah looked like physically. But it doesn’t really matter. We know the essence of her heart: a much more enduring legacy.

So, a poem in her honor…

~ Purity 2: Sarah ~

Queen of this house,

This moving, growing home:

Collection of tents-servant memories.

I have presided with smiles, tears, screams.

Princess of my Father,

Living to love my master:

Challenge of ever-changing complexities.

I have blossomed through bitter to sweet.

Naming the feelings, seeing the fears,

I stand up on choices, cling to what’s dear.

And see a face so beautiful in my mirror.

Growing up, I quickly came under the impression that the central focus of purity as a virtue had to do with sexual chastity or keeping one’s body and thoughts clean and unblemished in that area of life. While that certainly is important to consider, especially in our evermore-desensitized culture, I now stand on the cusp of marriage in these last few weeks of singlehood and ponder what it will mean to approach my husband as a pure bride in each sense of my person: spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically.

In that light, four times over the course of this month, I want to share a piece of word art and a short poem to highlight the life of each of four different women from the Bible. In each case, focusing on one of those aspects, I hope to think differently about who they were, who I am, and who each of us (men and women alike) is meant to be.

So, this time, I begin with the mother of all mankind. Not the first woman who usually comes to mind when we think of spiritual purity, is she?

Perhaps she should be…

~ Purity 1: Eve ~

Initial fruit tasted strangely sweet

On my tongue

But felt bitter-heavy

When it sank into my bowels.

Slow burn of something foreign

Had begun with me,

In me.

Third stirring felt strangely bitter

In my heart

But tingled sweetly-light

When it washed over my womb.

Deep joy of something granted

Had begun with me,

In me.

Heaven saw my kiss of death

But kindly placed in me this Seth

And restored my purity,

Once more setting my spirit free.