A Timeless Beauty

A Timeless Beauty

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a women who fears the Lord is to be praised ~Proverbs 31:30~

Sometimes I feel like I am getting to an awkward stage of my life. I mean, I know I am still very young and the best is yet to come, but sometimes little things come up to remind me that every day I am one day older. For example, I celebrated another birthday several weeks back, and on that very day, just like time was playing a joke on me, I found my very first gray hair. Being the incredibly sweet man that my dad is, as he was with me when I first spotted this intruder, he tried to convince me that it was only a platinum colored strand... but no matter what he said, I knew the truth (thanks for trying dad). And then to add insult to injury, I looked in the mirror and for the first time I noticed lines beginning to form around the corners of my eyes. While, I will choose to believe that these are simply ‘laugh lines’, my mind knows the truth… I am simply growing older.

These new acknowledgements in my life have caused me to start thinking. One of my very favorite verses is 1 Peter 3:3, and after years of struggling to achieve self-acceptance, it has become one of my life verses. It says “your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewellery and fine clothes. Instead, 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. For this is the way holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful”.

I am entering into the stages of life where women are beginning to contemplate and seek procedures to enhance their physical beauty. I however, am beginning to feel God stir a challenge in my heart. Instead of standing in the mirror and evaluating my physical appearance, God is calling me to evaluate matters of my heart. Where before physical beauty was consuming, God is calling me to change my perspective and focus on my inward beauty. I don’t want to downplay the importance of taking care of your physical self. The Bible says “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you” (1 Corinthians 6:19). I think it is important that we give God our best. But even more than our outward best, God is after our inward best. I am making a new challenge for myself. Every morning when I stand in front of the mirror to get ready for my day, I am going to recognize and thank God for one inward quality that makes me beautiful. Today, I said “thank you God for your joy that fills my heart”. As I declare my inward beauty daily, I believe that area’s that maybe aren’t so inwardly beautiful will begin to change in my life. I am challenging you to join me in this journey to become more inwardly beautiful. God is calling his daughters to rise up and embrace our inward beauty which is timeless, of great worth, and never ever fades.

With great love, your sister in Christ

            Ashley

She was beautiful, but not like those girls in the magazines.

She was beautiful, for the way she thought.

She was beautiful, for that sparkle in her eyes

When she talked about something she loved.

She was beautiful, for her ability to make other

People smile even if she was sad.

No, she wasn’t beautiful for something as temporary

As her looks.

She was beautiful, deep down to her soul

            ~Author Unknown~