#n2s

For what is beautiful, God tells us to protect it with modesty; a hijab (-veil) to protect our beauty. A barrier between the inner and outer. A gate to be selective in who can enter into those private corners.

But in today’s culture, we’re pulled to do the opposite—to show what we have, sometimes even making it appear more beautiful than it really is. When it comes to the beauty of our own lives, we share. We reveal. We put it out in the naked, for any contamination to seep in and take a glance.

Maybe it connects us. Maybe we think people will be happy for us. Proud of us. But maybe it hinders the intimacy that comes with shared vulnerability.

Maybe beauty was always best when hidden. Maybe that’s what increases it to overflowing amounts in our lives. And maybe, just maybe, we were never meant to pull the veil off our blessings, maybe that very “hijab” of secrecy is what protects them from burning.

Maybe the tax of a beautiful life is the modesty to hide and protect it, to be grateful for it between yourself, your Creator, and the handful whose souls He connected to yours in sincerity.

Because the world has gotten too loud, it is too massive of a gate to open—a drop of dirty water can contaminate an entire river of purity. Be careful what you let in, and who you let in. The less the outer noise pours in, the more your Inner peace will reign.

Expression is beautiful, communication is beautiful—but with a veil in place. Share your Truth, but don’t expose the sweetness of your Life to the outside dangers.

Modesty is not a burden, it is a barrier of protection from so much from within and from out—jealousy, ill-intentions, comparisons, arrogance, showing-off, insecurity.