On Wearing a Bikini

Warning:  This is controversial.  Please don't hang me.  :)  Thanks!  

It seems to me that within the conservative world we have done the opposite if what we've wished and have thus created another, far greater problem.  Our little girls are growing up learning that their bodies are only sex objects we must hide.  The words may not be such, but ultimately that is the message. 

"Cover your bodies, protect the boys from lust!  Cover your bodies, save it for your husband!  Cover your bodies, honour God!"

I used to believe this with all my heart, for my desire to do right was so strong.  My body was covered, my pride was full, and my soul forgot I was born inside this vessel.  And my vessel was forgotten, given over to hiddenness and secrecy.  It's only my love of childbirth that kept any closeness to this body I was born inside.  The one I was made to wear for all my days on this planet.

And so I regretted the days my body had been open, when I had loved it for what it was.  I covered it to protect it from meandering eyes and sinful lusts.  I held my head high and gave in to this pushing toward thinking only of others and never of myself.  The mirror was the only revealer of my curves and softness, and I agonized over the fact that I was the only one to judge it.  Believing oneself is rather difficult sometimes.

So once again, for different reasons, I found myself bikini-clad, happy amidst the throng of Swiss bathers who were oblivious to the statement they were making to me.  In North America, bikinis seem, generally, to be relegated to the thinnest, the fittest, the supposed sexiest of bodies.  Softer bodies tend to hide themselves in flowing coverage, shamed into the idea that their vessels are worth less, that their bodies are not good enough to be seen.  Perhaps even that their bodies have no sexual value.

And so I ask: for whom are we wearing the one-pieces, the 'modest suits', the potato sacks?  Do we really wear them to 'protect our brothers' (who, I might add, have already seen countless lightly-clothed bodies in their short lives and must learn to deal with any overly-excitable urges they might have... that's another story)? 

Our little girls must begin to grow up with love for what God made them in, so that when that small one's body begins to blossom and become softer and rounder, she has no second thought about her worth, her need to hide.  She should not only be thought of as sexual and beautiful if her body can 'safely' be placed in a bikini.  She should not be responsible for the lustfulness of the male swimmers at the lake.  That is their mountain to conquer, and in this world of fashion and supposed openness, they must!

Her body is bikini-worthy despite the softness.  It is bikini-worthy despite her short stature, her curvy thighs, her tiny breasts.  It is bikini-worthy despite the stretch marks or the growing baby, despite the varicose veins or the loosening skin.  It is simply worthy of our love, no matter how it's shaped or what worth (or lack thereof) it has been given in the past.

For the choice is the woman's to make: to free her skin to the flowing goodness of the water, or to cover it for her personal enjoyment.  Not society's.  Not conservatism's.  Not Christianity.

For our God made these beautiful vessels.  Our modesty is of the heart, before the Lord, in holy, humble joy before him.  So that our lives might be lived worthy, not so that we might make rules to attempt gaining favour with our Creator or others who serve Him.

(Further reading on the topic - to think on, please: Click here, and here)