Modesty, Summer and Bikini's

A friend of mine posted a blog on his facebook page and I am so glad he did. We were posted in Iraq at the same time and he was (still is) a Chaplain’s Assistant.

Let me back up a little it… I have been working out four days a week (five days starting next week) for the past 6 weeks. I have started seeing changes and I actually really like going to the gym now. I’m feeling better and losing weight. I was talking about swimwear with someone a couple of weeks ago and said I wouldn’t wear a bikini for another year, til I worked everything where I was comfortable.

HOWEVER, I will never wear a bikini. Ever. In public. (Someday, when I am alone with my husband, I would wear one, but it would be for him). I like bikini’s.. I think some of them are really cute. There are many that are quite tasteful, but I’m not going to wear one in public.

Modesty… it is moving further and further away from everything we know in this world. I see so many girls wearing something you can barely call a bikini, and honestly, it disgusts me. Some do it for attention, but they are calling the wrong attention to themselves.

1 Timothy 2:9-10 (NASB)

⁹ Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, ¹⁰ but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.

 

As a Christian, I do not want to show my body off to the world. I feel uncomfortable with the idea that I have to dress in a certain manner to attract attention. Like I said about the skimpy bikini, I do not want to call the wrong kind of attention to myself.

The girl in this blog gives the reasons so simply and straight forward and I completely agree with her. Not wearing a bikini in public, no matter how secure I feel, is a sacrifice for the men around me. Like the author of this blog, I want the men around me to look past my physical appearance and see my inner beauty. My physical appearance will fade as the years progress, but the man I end up with for a lifetime will love me for more than that (God has promised).

I also do not want men I do not know staring at me in a manner that is inappropriate – i.e. lustful. This is NOT a declaration that I think highly of myself. Men are visual creatures, and their eyes get them in trouble. I would hope, when I do marry, the man I am with has enough respect for me to not allow his eyes to wander.

My family does a vacation together and we often go to the beach. I have a dad, a brother, two brother-in-laws and two nephews, plus my son. I would never wear anything to embarrass them or make them uncomfortable. With the younger boys, I would not want to provide any kind of inappropriate image for them to see. It is a respect issue for me, and more specifically, my respect for them as my family. For my sisters and my brother’s girlfriend and my stepmother and my nieces, I do not want to disrespect them either. I want my nieces to see an example to follow, and not be misled in the ways of the world. I also would like for the younger boys to see an example (between the women in the family) of how their future wives should dress and behave.

So, as summer is upon us, I have to go bathing suit shopping, since I have friends who have pools. But I will not purchase a bikini. A tankini, or a cute one piece… I’ll be happy with that.