What is Beauty?

I would like to share with you from a chapter I read last night entitled "Prisms: Accepting God's Design". I know as women we are put in a very difficult place in society as far as looks go. I hope that you read what is below and that you are encouraged to accept and LOVE yourself the way God love's you. I know I needed this lesson as much as many women do!

What is beauty? Many people define beauty in many different ways....

maybe it's a beautiful woman, a beautiful flower, a beautiful sunset, a beautiful princess...or perhaps, Black Beauty.

Beauty, by the world's standard, has come to mean something narrow, superficial, and completely opposite of God's original plan. This concept of beauty is distorted in our society today. I am amazed at how many women are having plastic surgery or getting botox. It's not just those "mid-life" crisis gals either it's teenage girls. It's so sad to see that society thinks of beauty as being attractiveness - or lack of it. Way to much emphasis has been placed on the external and not on the eternal soul contained within. Many of these women are trying to fix a void in their hearts from the outside. Chemicals, drugs, food, status, shopping, image, beauty, gambling, sex, busyness- all are as empty as the internal void feels. Nothing on the list will satisfy for any length of time. Only God can give us eternal satisfaction, because He designed us to need Him alone - to be the only one who can fill our emptiness. And we need filling -filling of God's pure love. It's the only remedy that brings us permanent satisfactin.

So, why aren't all believers blissfully satisfied the instand they accept Christ? Because we bring our baggage with us. Many of us spend lots of time trying to fit God into our baggage when we become Christians, but thankfully God is patient and because the process of becoming spiritually mature takes time, we have to allow Christ to live through us and learn to adjust to our new lives in Him.

In Genesis, God makes a promise to Noah and during that promise a rainbow appears. Each rainbow we see in life is slightly different. They vary in size, the width of each band of color, and even the number of identifiable hues. But the right combination of rain and sun bends the light and reveals the different tones. Just like these rainbows we are all uniquely different. In each of us, God has created a magnificent and complete masterpiece, and He carefully applied each artful brushstroke. As with any masterpiece, our beauty and worth have nothing to do with the paint, oil, or canvas, but everything to do with the Master who created us. God's beauty never fades, and that loveliness is the unique light that shines from every human soul.

This may be hte first time you've heard this truth. You may have a hard time seeing your own beauty (as did I) at first. Like an impressionistic painting, up close the brushstrokes seem random and indistinct. Step back, and the image becomes clearer. The Creator of the world wonderfully made you and me, knowing every detail of our lives. No mistake.

Just remember: you are God's creation, all of God's children are precious, your beauty is eternal, and apart from Christ you can do nothing! I hope that this post will inspire and encourage each of you.

You are Beautiful!