I've been thinking lately....

What is beauty?

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

What if no one is beholding you?

The though crossed my mind today that if I was loved by some handsome man, maybe I would feel beautiful then. Perhaps, though, then I would not believe him and think he was only "saying it." So maybe if some ugly man loved me, maybe then I'd feel beautiful. But then, could I really trust his taste? So how about an average looking man? Neither a hottie nor a nobody? Surely his opinion would be the least biased due to his own physical appearance. I don't know... I think he might still just say things to make me happy and I would have a hard time believing him.

Is that what beauty is?

I doubt it.

Who determines physical beauty?

I'm deciding it: the artist does. The artist is the one who can see beauty in ugliness, elegance in hideousness, and charm in disfigurement. The artist divines the diamond in the rough.

I think beauty and love ought to be completely unconnected. Never trust the flattering words of a lover. What do they know? Their glasses are rose colored and may be discarded at any moment.

Beauty is defined as being deeply satisfying to the mind, something excellent of its kind, or something extraordinary.

A painter looks for beauty in light, color, and angle. A writer creates beauty through black shapes on white paper. Theatre artists show beauty, and the other side of beauty, through live human beings and their interactions. A photographer captures a moment of beauty on film.

So what is this worry over physical beauty that I see in so many girls around me?

No matter what you look like, no matter your "defects", there is an Artist who created you and who every day calls you Beautiful. A Masterpiece. A Prized Possession.

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, know that the Beholder can't take His eyes off of you!

2 comments:

revpdog said...

Beautiful! Or was I just saying that?

You failed to mention the Sculptor... who sees beyond the surface and it's imperfections. Who is able to find the beauty by having the vision and removing the outer layers. Sometimes using surgically sharpened tools to cut or pound away the excess... leaving the waste on the floor to be swept away. Saving the larger pieces that were removed, to be set aside for a future project. He uses a rasp to rough up the corners and different coarsenesses of sand paper to smooth everything to a finished piece. But it is still not finished... even thought it reflects the light and casts it's own shadow. The wood comes to life when the oil is applied... and if not oil... the sealer. Both to me represent a life in Christ. He sees beyond the surface. He chisels away the unnecessary. He shapes the heart of the would and causes it to have form, character, and integrity, drawing out from the heart of the wood what no one else was able to see. It has form... it resembles something but even still the beauty is only partially there. It is when He applies the "Sealer" the Holy Spirit... The "Oil" that makes the character of the wood penetrating to the very grain that once brought the wood life... only to be formed and transformed into the likeness that the Sculptor was sculpting in the first place.

True Beauty my darling... is the heart that has been brought life and breath by the Master's Hands.

I love you! Thanks for being "YOU" now, apply the oil.
Because your Beauty already shines!

dAD

Kathy said...

Ok, both of you have great vision. I get mine through sewing & knitting. Maybe one day I'll share some of what God has shown me in these areas.