Lilies

ch. 2 v. 2 Lover

"Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the maidens"

Of all the flowers, it caught my attention as to why the man chose a lily instead of a rose. As the saying goes " The rose among the thorns. " Lilies symbolizes purity, innocence and chastity, while Rose symbolizes love, romance and beauty. In a very intimate situation I am amazed that the man chose a lily rather than a rose. What does that really say? I am not sure myself. But I do believe it has a meaning behind it :) Does innocence and purity attract men more than beauty and romance? I cannot grasp the meaning behind this verse yet. But I have a strong feeling that there was a reason why the man chose a lily rather than a rose.

Darling among the maidens. Darling means that a particular person is popular from certain group. Maidens are unmarried women. This is very sweet and loving :) Among all the unmarried women he considered the woman to be his only one. For a man this indeed is very tough. Men are visual. From the book "For women only" by Beth Moore, it explains there how men have struggles with sensual thoughts because of attractive women, how they are easily distracted.

The man in this verse said "My darling among the maidens" it's amazing how he still kept his eyes on his woman despite all those unmarried single women :) Now that's love :)

Eyes

v. 15 Lover

"How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves."

Eyes. There's something about the eyes of a woman. It's pure and it is the window of a woman's heart. Doves portray innocence and grace... A woman isn't made to be always angry, wasn't made to be haughty but was made to be gentle and sweet. The eyes of a woman is as important as her heart. No wonder men are mostly attracted to women because of their eyes. :)

Beauty

v.6

"Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun."

Even in the past, women did have insecurities. Most women wouldn't want someone to look at them from the outside, coz of acne problems, dark skins, wrinkles, etc. I mean who could blame them? They had to work, at the same time maintain their beauty. Who could blame them when they have more sensitive skin than men have? Who could blame them when they find some of their security on the beauty. Women were created to be beautiful, men were created for another thing. Women values beauty more than work that's for sure.

"Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother's sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards: my own vineyard I have neglected."

For me, this reveals the abuse towards women. Their inner beauty reveals their outward beauty. If they are abused from the inside ( abuse of their kindness, their care, their love, their touch ) it usually reveals from the outside. I believe what she is saying is that, "Please accept me for who I am, look at my good parts more than my bad ones." Acceptance is what she yearns, that's why she would usually serve others and completely forget about herself.

The abusive thought that women should always serve men, to the point that they could be looked down on. That is really wrong. Because women are the crown of men. As they say, a behind every successful/great man is a supportive wife. Support not Serve. I am not saying that women shouldn't serve their man, supporting also means serving but it ain't abusive. The serve that I mean here is that, its as if they are meant to just live for men, where they have less rights, less freedom, to the point that their aren't heard no more.

Women are not servants, they are encouragers, they are loving, they give strength to the weak, in short they bring beauty anywhere and everywhere they go. They produce beauty as they were made in beauty. But once they are abused, they become less beautiful leading to hurts and pains that discourages them to produce beauty and life.