Thursday, September 29, 2011

Behold the Beauty (Part 2)


My beautiful family... (Don't worry,
Dal, I think you are beautiful too,
this is just before your "time." Ha) 
Think of a time that some one has sincerely told you that you are beautiful. Maybe it was a spouse. Perhaps a best friend. Maybe even a stranger. Oh, and don't forget God (He always calls you beautiful!) How does that make you feel??

I don't know about you, but if someone tells me that, I get all fluttery and blushy warm all around my heart. It feels SO GOOD. It's OK to feel good about that-- embrace it, don't deny it and start picking yourself apart... YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!

Hopefully you were able to catch yesterday's post (otherwise you are probably thoroughly confused at this point. But hey, it does say "Part 2" at the top ;-) It's all about beholding our own beauty. Today we are taking it to an even deeper level.

As a music lover, I have noticed there are ton of songs out there about beauty. And I'm not talking about the superficial rap songs "tap that" kind of beauty (yeah, I said it.) I mean the true beauty-based songs... A few examples:

I am sure there are a bunch more songs that I couldn't think of right off the top of my head... So if there are so many great songs out there about being beautiful (inside AND out) then why is admitting and embracing our own beauty such an issue?

We all know that old adage that "beauty is only skin deep." Well I say PSHAW to that... I think that it does much deeper than that, and internal beauty can "seep" through, up and out, overflowing over your skin, all over you and everywhere around you. If you have a beautiful heart, I firmly believe your gorgeous factor shoots through the roof!! Don't believe me? Let me prove it.

Let's pretend that you are single and there are two individuals of the opposite gender across the room. One is the your DREAM... blonde hair, blue eyes, or maybe the tall/dark/handsome... whatever. The other one looks "average" or "normal" (whatever "normal" is...) So the DREAMY one approaches you... but turns out to be a big dumb jerkface, a heart consumed with self. Beauty factor drops out the bottom. Yuck. Not so pretty now, huh?

I think Mama Lex is most beautiful when she
is being silly... not that we do that often
together... 
But the "normal" (again, I scoff) person approaches you... and you find out that their heart is pure-- full of humble love, overflowing with awesomeness and they just so happen to be deeper than a summer rain puddle. BOOM. Beauty factor skyrockets. Get it?

Need another example? Ok, I will make it personal. I will admit that I was immediately physically attracted to the sandy-haired blue-eyed man that eventually became my husband... but I didn't swoon in the corner, overwhelmed by his beauty-- until we began to talk and get to know each other. Holy cow, he turned out to be a hottie!! Brandon's heart is gorgeous, so generous and full of the love of Christ. He is by far the most swoon-worthy man I have ever met (which is the way it should be.)

But it gets even better-- when I asked him was first attracted him to me, do you know what he said? My hips. MY HIPS! The one part of my body I despised the most! And just as it happened with me, he said that as he got to know me and realized "I had a brain" (his words, not mine) that I went from cute to beautiful. Why? Because he got to know my heart. And if you get to know your own heart, you will see that you too can be beautiful-- inside and out, "child-bearing hips" or not.

Think about some of your closest, bestest best friends... How would you describe them? Mine would be beautiful. I have always said that I didn't know how I was so lucky to get such gorgeous friends. Becky, Emily, Kally, my Mama and Lex all physically look different than one another, but as far as I am concerned, they are the most beautiful women who have ever walked the face of the earth. Why? Because I love them all, and I love them so deeply-- they all have beautiful hearts... Which again makes both their insides and outsides drop-dead gorgeous.
You know your friends are GORGEOUS if they can make
faces like this and because they have such amazing
hearts, it just makes them more beautiful!
You know what? God's love for you is so incredibly deep and wide, that he thinks YOU are the most beautiful thing in the world... We are all different, fearfully and wonderfully made, so we can't compare ourselves to others. If you have a heart that loves Christ, you can rest assured that he loves you inside and out... down to the last pimple, hang-nail and last fly-away hair on your head! Behold your internal AND external beauty. God does-- and he KNOWS you are beautiful!!

You are so beautiful to me (and God!)
SGK


"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." --Psalm 139:14

1 comment:

  1. You are so wise and encouraging Sharita. Your beauty is captivating and I'm so blessed to have you as a best friend!

    ReplyDelete