the standard of beauty

so i'm reading through Song of Songs now and i have to confess that i love this book. having already listened to "Visionary Love" by Stephen Furtick a few months ago I feel like i have a different perspective on the book. I can recognize parts/seasons in their relationship and it's so much cooler.

one thing that stands out to me is 4:7 "all beautiful you are, my darling, there is no flaw in you."

basically he's just gone over her entire self - complimenting her and tailoring his words to build her up as a woman, as his beloved. then, in this verse, he summarizes all that he finds beautiful in her. She has become and is his standard of beauty.

no one else compares to her, and he holds everything up in light of her and her beauty - and nothing compares, she encompasses all that he finds and things and sees as being beautiful.

then she says something, after he's gone through and told her everything that's beautiful about her (and i mean everything is beautiful to him) - he talks about how she's waited for him - guarded her garden from the "foxes" - those little things that get in the way and keep you from guarding your heart and keeping yourself pure. then she says something... something crazy.. she gives him permission to come into his garden (her). It isn't "her garden" but his.

for some reason this just really struck me - that she didn't even consider her body her own anymore - she was his and he was hers. there's something so beautiful about that to me - that she's waited and guarded and matured in all these areas for years just to give it away. give it all away.

he affirms her - he affirms her in their dating by speaking truth into her life when she focuses on her insecurities. he affirms her beauty by making it his standard. and she trusts him fully - with everything that she is and has she lets him in and gives him permission to come into everything that she is... and neither do it for selfish reasons - they do it simply because it's loving the other. he loves her by affirming. she loves him by trusting and giving.