Beauty
Yesterday, driving out to dinner with my friends here in the Seattle area, I was struck by the beauty all around us. Giants of mountains rising out of flat land, mirrored bays and rivers on the road side, farm land ready to lay fallow during the coming winter season, quaint homes, and monstrous evergreens covering the hills and mountains around us. The sun lit up the clear blue sky with glorious color as it went down behind the tree line while we sat and had dinner on the river deck beside a little restaurant area. We joked about "boooty" and all the "booty" around us (meaning beauty) and we giggled, but it was such a true statement. On several occasions I've told my girl that I'm a little jealous of her living here, in a good way.
When I got home, I found one of my friends focused on her age as she turns 36 today. She has been fixated on not looking her age, and thinking she still "looks good" and not 36. She posted this morning several things about beauty, including that Dove commercial of societal beauty standards. That's all find and great, really. But I was reading her posts and thinking about her and all that came to mind was Proverbs 31:30:
"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."
Maybe it's just me, but I cannot find a reasoning for thinking it's all about physical beauty in a woman's figure or face. I've found that beauty - real beauty that reflects God is the kind that we saw in majestic mountains or sunsets like I watched. Not in the face of a woman. Not to say it's wrong to be be pretty or attempt to make oneself beautiful, goodness knows I try. But The focus of selfishly attempting to focus on your own beauty is out of line with this verse. Personally, I believe it's about character, about the effort to be like Christ that makes a person beautiful. What's their heart? Do they love, are they kind, are they generous, is there evidence of Christ transforming their spirit? That's beauty. I hope my friend can come to a realization of what is real beauty...and let God's beauty envelop her today.
When I got home, I found one of my friends focused on her age as she turns 36 today. She has been fixated on not looking her age, and thinking she still "looks good" and not 36. She posted this morning several things about beauty, including that Dove commercial of societal beauty standards. That's all find and great, really. But I was reading her posts and thinking about her and all that came to mind was Proverbs 31:30:
"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."
Maybe it's just me, but I cannot find a reasoning for thinking it's all about physical beauty in a woman's figure or face. I've found that beauty - real beauty that reflects God is the kind that we saw in majestic mountains or sunsets like I watched. Not in the face of a woman. Not to say it's wrong to be be pretty or attempt to make oneself beautiful, goodness knows I try. But The focus of selfishly attempting to focus on your own beauty is out of line with this verse. Personally, I believe it's about character, about the effort to be like Christ that makes a person beautiful. What's their heart? Do they love, are they kind, are they generous, is there evidence of Christ transforming their spirit? That's beauty. I hope my friend can come to a realization of what is real beauty...and let God's beauty envelop her today.
Well said! I have found whether exterior looks are beautiful or ugly depends more on character then anything else. A beautiful woman because ugly when she treats other without love, and an ugle woman because beautiful when her loves shines through. I think God did that too us on purpose. Besides - no matter how pretty we are, time will take it all away. But a good character, a heart that loves God, a life that worships - time only makes that stronger and sweeter. ~ L
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