Beauty starts within.
It is ever evolving.
It grows.
It begins within a soul and is uncovered in the depth of the human relationship.
Beauty requires us to build a firm foundation that is solid and pure.
Real beauty is rooted in love, is alive, and flows from the heart.
It romances love for creation and the Creator.
Allowing our perception of what is beautiful to shift from the physical to the Truth will change what our eyes so quickly snatch and decide to define.
The concept of beauty is so deeply ingrained in American culture. ‘Beauty’ has been bred by the countless images plastered on billboards and consumed by advertisements revealing the undeniable objectification of women. The body has been used, refined, and skewed to project the product being sold by marketers. The ideal that has redefined and generated the perfect body image found in magazines has now entered the sphere of mainstream social media.
Instagram and Facebook profiles construct and deconstruct beauty as we play photoshop to produce the perfect picture of our selfies, engagements, and family. In all forms of media, I would argue that the physical appearance of women has been twisted, re-shaped, and re-created by technology. It’s a practice of manufacturing our ideal image just to post the most flawless picture for the world to consume. After many final fake touches and filters, the notion of ‘beauty’ is then fed back to us as an unrealistic image built on a mound of lies. ‘Beauty’ by these standards is an outer mirage rather than a concept that is to be fully known intimately.
The English definition of Beauty: the quality of being pleasing, especially to look at, or someone or something that gives great pleasure, especially when you look at it.
Beauty in the Bible: Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. 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. -1 Peter 3:3-4
I believe the Lord wants His creation to experience beauty rather than just seeing beauty physically.
I have learned over the past eight months of life out in the world that there is no appearance in beauty other than the physical action of bearing ones heart with the intent of loving those he or she surrounds. At the beginning of this journey, the American vision of beauty had challenged me in countless ways. As a backpacker, I stressed and questioned my diet, limitation of safe places to workout, and how to maintain a suitable appearance. I have found that there is only so much you can carry and only so many ways you can wear the same outfit. By month three, I struggled. I looked in the mirror with the thought that the girl staring back was only beautiful when she was all done up with makeup and dressed to impress. This was a lie. The Lord was doing something more with the girl behind the reflection in the mirror – He was changing her heart.
Now, after traveling nine months, I barely look in the mirror. Through time and avid prayer, God gave me a clearer perspective of myself than a mirror could give. My beauty is found in my identity as a daughter of the King.
I wear the same clothes and the same sandals day to day. My concept of beauty has transformed as I have opened my heart to so much more. Beauty is no longer something to be revealed by my appearance, but rather deeply understood cross-culturally by everything unseen. It has been experienced instead of something adorned by what I physically display. Beauty has become the environment created in which to display the depth of God’s love.
What is beautiful to Jesus is not something that has been touched up or manipulated. True beauty is not a physical look that evolves after one packs on make-up, but a changing characteristic of the heart. Jesus walked this earth and He found beauty in the physical mess. Jesus desires the beauty of our heart. His beauty is found in the smallest of moments, the most astounding of miracles, and within the souls of others.
Learning to hold a little girl that has a disability with gentleness.
Crying out to God on a rooftop for the people in Nepal.
Teaching children how to paint for the very first time.
Spending time with an impoverished single mother as she holds her diseased child.
Watching 84 orphans play in the rain in Namibia.
Singing worship songs with children in Africa.
These moments that capture the heart, are beautiful!
As missionaries, we will not always physically see the changes that happen in a person’s life. The impact that we had on a child’s life is not shown by the clothes they wear or the cleanliness of their hair. The beauty we experience is fully understood when the depth of our love surpasses the physical. When we, God’s creation, believe we are of influence and worth – when we use our life to make an impact and love others by creating an environment that displays the love of Christ. Beauty found in the soul is gold.
Beauty by the physical standard is different in every corner of the world because it differs from place to place. What is attractive in one country may be undesirable in another; yet, those souls who display God’s true beauty all have one thing in common. Love.
