And She Took Her Veil . . .

. . . and covered herself."

Nope, not referring to me when I step out the door in the morning! It's Rebekah, once she realizes that she's approaching Isaac.

Reading the Book is fresh each year because of time and location and life station (and even version--ASV on my Sony eReader so far). It makes sense that I would notice verses on veiling now. In this case, Rebekah hadn't been veiled with the men she was traveling with, but she chose to do it when she approached her husband-to-be. It brings up questions on what the veil is and what it symbolizes and whether it's appropriate ever, never, or always.

The cut-and-dried argument that I grew up with is "of course it's always bad. It symbolizes restriction, oppression. It should come off." The conservative view here is "of course it's good. It's modest, and it protects the value of our women" (a bogus claim for those who treat women as inferior, but not all do). A western friend reflected the evasiveness of true black and white on this issue when she commented on the veiled women (specifically the teenagers) in the amusement park we visited this week: "It's almost more sad when the women seem so happy, and they don't realize that they are restricted. They don't realize that other girls don't live their lives like this."

Yeah, they don't realize that they're missing out on western pop culture and movies and music and easy sex . . . I do agree with my friend, but it's hard not to play a little devil's advocate here. Handing these girls western "freedoms" isn't really going to do anything for them in itself. Freedom doesn't really do anything for anyone unless it comes from inside, from a transformed heart. And probably that will look a little different in the west from in other parts of the world. Maybe a western girl newly free on the inside will cover a little more. Maybe an eastern girl newly free on the inside will cover a little less. Who knows?

I can't say that I know what internal freedom is supposed to look like on the outside. Generally back home we're pretty good at judging each other, those from one end of the spectrum tsk-ing others' immodesty, those from the other end harrumph-ing others' legalism. I know there's a good balance somewhere, and I respect those who are trying to find and live it.

But here . . . 'nother story altogether! Would I tell someone who had found internal freedom to cover less? Because it's more like me? Because it's more like the west? Um, Be like Britney?! (I'm not knocking the parts of western freedom that spring from our faith-based heritage.) Because I'm afraid she might be being legalistic? What if she's not being legalistic? What if she really wants to honor her dad? What if she wants to respect the men around her who have different ideas of public modesty? What if she thinks veiling is prettier than not? (The women here pull off beauty in their veils pretty well. And to be honest, there are women who have more beautiful eyes than faces.) What if she decides she wants to cover more . . . under her abaya? Am I okay with that?

It can be complicated, here and at home. Legalism is alive and well in the heart of sinful man in every part of the world. Judgmentalism, fear of man, pride, insecurity--all these are in the heart of sinful man, as well. So the best kind of freedom I can offer is freedom from these through the One who liberates . . . and let him direct the outcome in the lives of those around me. He releases from bondage and oppression of the deepest kind, and he can figure out better than I can what that should look like on the outside.

So the key is the internal liberty, which ironically frees us to restrict ourselves for God's honor. People restrict themselves all the time for far less honorable motives. Target workers give up their wardrobe freedom for a red shirt. Road crews in Georgia exchange their air conditioning for fierce sweat. Mothers give up their sleep and some of their independence for their children. The payoff is decent--a paycheck, a better paycheck, and grandchildren. (Okay, that was for my mom, who didn't get any grandchildren for Christmas yet again.) They are free to choose their payoffs, but this is because of the internal piece (and how that impacts societies, too).

I am free on the inside, thanks be to God, so I'm pretty sure that I will rejoice to walk in public with my head uncovered and my own clothes showing when I return home. And maybe those inside-free here will choose to veil . . . like Rebekah.