Beautiful Things

 

 

Thinking back over my day, I noticed a golden thread.

Beauty.

 

I woke up this morning feeling a bit like a rag doll after an exceptionally long day yesterday. I didn't really want to go to church because it would have been so much easier to stay in bed, but I have missed the last couple of Sundays and I was beginning to feel the void. So, I got up and mindlessly got dressed. Then I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I was taken aback for a second because what I saw surprised me. I looked...beautiful. Now that sounds really vain, but if you know me at all, you know that is not my heart. I've never considered myself beautiful. My husband never told me I was beautiful...I was always "cute", which is not what a 5ft tall woman wants to hear. The woman I saw in the mirror today was striking, full of light and beautiful.

 

At church the sermon was from Ecclesiastes 8. Verse one states that

"Wisdom lights up a person’s face".

Wisdom has a positive effect on a person's character and countenance.

The wisdom that comes from God causes a softening and a beauty to emerge.

 

This afternoon an old college friend invited me to receive a free facial. She said she felt like I needed to be pampered and I accepted. In the process of cleansing my face and applying moisturizers I examined my face rather closely. Beauty. Button nose. Beauty. Blue eyes. Beauty. Full lips every ready to smile. Beauty. Freckles; aka angel kisses. Beauty. My friend has a business that helps women feel beautiful. What a ministry.

 

Recognizing true beauty is seeing so much more below the surface and appreciating what you see.

 

The father of lies likes to make us see ourselves in a bad light. Images of "perfection" make us all feel like we're subpar and inadequate. But, today I saw myself in heaven's light. I am beautiful. I am a bride in the eyes of my Groom. God sees His precious child when He sees me, and as all parents can attest, your child is the best looking one on the planet.  

 

Speaking of children, I've been self conscience of my maternal scars from my emergency caesarean sections for all these years. It recently occurred to me that neither one of my children nor I would be here today if not for those scars. Those are scars that brought forth life.

 

I once heard that scars aren't a sign of weakness, they are a sign that whatever it was that left the mark wasn't strong enough to do you in.

 

I know I have scars, both external and internal, but God is the great healer. A wise man once reminded me that God can heal deeper than our wounds. 

 

He can make me new. He makes beautiful things out of us.