Beauty is Heart-Deep

It is said that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” This makes beauty a shifting of judgement. What is the standard of beauty? Recognizing beauty is different to a photographer, a car dealer, a teacher, or a house cleaner.

My two year old friend beckoned me one day to show me something. He took me to the front glass door and pointed to a portion of a dried leaf that stuck to the glass. He excitedly told me in his two year old language about that bit of leaf. He saw something I didn’t see. Is this the way we are when God tries to show us something? All we see is a nothingness, for our eyes are blinded to God’s beauty and the portent of the gifts He offers us.

God is beauty, He is the essence of beauty all around us. His

beauty is heart-deep! In the beginning He created…(Genesis 1:1) is the beginning of beauty. When we love Him, we can see the beauty, His creation, all about us. On earth, our picture, our knowing of God is in what He created. The brilliant sunset, the magnificent roar of ocean waves, the tallest trees who praise God with arms lifted high, the sweet face of the daisy. Then there is the tenderness of a lover’s smile, a baby’s happy laughter, the one who cares for the sick and wounded. All these create the face of God that we will see one day, face to face. The face of beauty reaches deep into our hearts through prayer and thanksgiving.

While growing up I wanted to be popular, I wanted to be beautiful. When I was 16 years old I wanted to look in a mirror to see if I was beautiful. The longer I looked at my face the more I saw imperfection and blemishes. Much time has passed since then, and I have learned that when someone keeps their eyes on Jesus, they become beautiful – heart-deep beautiful. I learned about the gentle and quiet spirit from I Peter 3:4 It isn’t make up, the latest in clothing and hair fashion. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

The unfading beauty cannot be painted on the face, but unfading beauty is etched on the heart through a deep abiding faith that faces each day with the knowledge of who God is!

When I think of beauty, it is in the seasoned flowers in God’s Garden. My Grandmother, my great Grandmother and my mother were these flowers. Each one with their own life story of being tested and tried in lives until they were burnished with the love of God. What a blessing are faithful women who love Jesus,nearing the sunset of life, for they are like a garden of roses that never lose their beauty. What are their stories? Trusting God when they were separated from loved ones, serving others as they saw needs, thinking of others first and not themselves.

The skies sing the story of God’s beauty. The variety is unending. Sunny skies are short-lived, and then comes the clouds that teach patience, faith and trust. The darkest clouds are often edged in brilliant hope. No matter what happens, look for the hope in our Lord.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Psalm 96:11-12

It is good to learn to rejoice and give thanks in all things on earth to practice for Heaven. There won’t be anything to bring us to the point of being glum in Heaven.

When I was a little girl, Mom called me a ‘Pollyanna’, for I always found something to be thankful for, something to rejoice about, something to smile about. My half-full glass brought me happiness then and continues to help me live a life trusting Jesus.

A spirit of thankfulness and joy is what God desires. Look how often the Israelites in the wilderness complained. Yes, complained. Instead of being thankful for the release from Egypt, the fact that God became their GPS in the wilderness and He gave them manna to eat, meant nothing. Once glumness sets in, the heart resets itself to being critical and complaining. “Un-glumming” the heart means to let Jesus in – heart-deep! It is a choice that lasts for an eternity of God’s beauty!