- Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
- She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
- Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.
- She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
- Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised
The word "beautiful" keeps coming up in my thoughts and in my life--in the words of a song, a conversation with a friend, even in my prayer life.
I attended a wedding last weekend, and the bride really was absolutely beautiful (don't you agree?) The bridesmaids were beautiful, the church was beautiful, the reception decorations were beautiful, and the bride and groom are returning from their honeymoon to a beautiful new-to-them house.
An old friend of mine welcomed a brand new grandbaby into her family this week, her first; a beautiful baby girl.
Another new friend invited me out to lunch, and I went by her house to pick her up--and IT was beautiful, with gorgeous, expensive-looking furniture, and everything just "so".
I keep thinking to myself--I want a beautiful life, too! I know I'm an overweight, middle-aged lady, with a small house and not much money to speak of, but what about me? Has my time for beauty passed, and is this the best my life is ever going to be?
Frankly, that thought is rather depressing.
Another day, I was with a friend and she asked me to pray for her--not "will you remember me in your prayers" kind of thing, but "I need prayer right now, will you pray for me now". So I did, and as I was praying, I got the distinct impression that Lord wanted me to ask her a question.
"Do you feel beautiful?"
And she laughed a little and said, "No, I don't."
And we had a conversation about inward and outward beauty, and about how the later does depend somewhat on the former, and vice-versa. How we look can affect how we feel, and how we feel can affect how we look. The physical affects the mental affects the spiritual, and the reverse is true as well.
It's all tied in together.
I have some further thoughts that I want to share with you at another time, but I leave you with this question:
"Do you feel beautiful?" Inside or outside?
Until next time...
Thanks for this thought-provoking post. Beauty's so hard to define; that's way they say it is in the eye of the beholder. For me, there's too much focus on outward beauty in our society, not enough on being beautiful on the inside. Best wishes from England! Found you at Mom's the Word's hop. x
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome for the post; and I thank you for not only dropping by, but leaving a comment, as well! I agree, inside beauty is much more important!
DeleteYes, I agree, your niece is a beautiful bride. As for the subject of beauty, aging isn't for sissies! I might not meet any standards of beauty, externally, but when my grandchild touches my lips for a kiss, or my husband gives me a warm embrace, yes I feel beautiful. One of the advantages of getting older, is that we become more beautiful inside. I know that life's lessons have made more compassionate and patient, which really isn't a bad trade off for a few extra pounds or some wrinkles.
ReplyDeleteYou're so right about compassion and patience being a good trade off for pounds and wrinkles! I'm finding more and more that feeling beautiful on the inside contributes much to my being beautiful on the outside! I think beauty is in the eye of the "behold-ee" as much as the eye of the "behold-er"!
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