A Crazy Comparison

I'll be the first to admit that I am a surface person. All too often, especially when reading scripture, I read the words on the page without thinking about much else. I've never been accused of being a deep thinker. I take almost everything at face value, and as a result, I miss out on a ton. That is one of the reasons I enjoy doing Beth Moore studies so much. She really forces you to think about what you are reading and to picture it in your mind's eye.

Esther has always been one of my favorite biblical characters, and I know I've read the scriptural account several, several times. Not only have I read the scriptural account, but I've also read "Haddassah" by Tommy Tenney and I've seen "One Night with The King" as well. And, that's not even counting the Farmer family's well loved "Esther" VeggieTales DVD. But, the Esther homework is really causing me to think about it more deeply. At some point, she has us think about what we're reading as if shooting the scene with a video camera.

So, as I've worked on the homework the past week or so I've tried to play along. I don't know whether this is going to work in my favor or not, because doing so has resulted in a crazy comparison.

The homework in week 2 starts with a King who misses a WIFE.....not a concubine, mind you, A WIFE. And, I wonder if I'm the only woman who finds that comforting. It seems to serve as confirmation that wives are truly "help mates" to our husbands, and they need us for support in addition to their "other" needs [p36]. I guess that could be a whole "other" post. :)

But, then in Day 2 it talks about the crazy contest that the King's advisers drummed up to give the King what he needed. And, in doing so, it mentions the fact that Esther had a habit of "winning favor". She had obviously found favor in Mordecai, her cousin who adopted her. She had found favor with Hegai, the King's eunuch in charge of the harem. And, she ultimately found favor with the King himself. Beth surmises that Esther "won the favor of everyone who saw her (v15)" at least in part because she had manners and people skills. And that's when the crazy comparison entered my mind. Here it is:

I'm thinking that the story of Esther might not be far off from a modern day episode of "The Bachelor". Think about it, you had a buttload of beautiful girls all in one place competing for the affection of one man. I've only watched a season or two of the Bachelor.....watching beyond that just started making me nauseous. It seemed like every season, the drama and the catty-ness came out sooner and sooner. It always seemed like there were a few girls on the show that only thought of themselves and their prime way of making themselves look good was by making others look bad. It's the classic case of insecurity rearing it's ugly head. On the other hand, at least in the season or so that I actually watched, there was a girl who was genuinely nice and could get along with everyone; a girl who was able to keep from being caught up in all the ugly drama. A girl who was beautiful both INSIDE & out. And, much to the producer's delight, it seemed that quite often, those two girls would be the last 2 remaining for Mr. Prince Charming to choose from. I just couldn't help from wondering if that was kind of what it was like with Esther.....and the "nice" girl actually won for a change! How refreshing! Am I crazy or what?

There are certainly other qualities she possessed besides just manners and people skills that allowed her to win the favor of others. On page 49, Beth asks us to "describe what kinds of qualities a woman must possess to win the favor of other women in spite of her appeal to men". My answers included: Beauty, Wisdom, Humility, and Kindness. What do ya'll think? What would your list include?

It certainly got me thinking about whether or not I possess those qualities....and how I might go about adding them and fine tuning them in my life. Life is certainly not a popularity contest, but I do, at least, want to be well liked and pleasing to my Heavenly Father....

What do y'all think?


P.S...... on a completely unrelated note, don't ya'll just love the way I reference Beth Moore by her first name like we're best buddies from way back...... I swear, our old Bible Study wins one ounce of recognition on her blog, and I suddenly think she's my new BFF ( ha ha ha)