A Beauty Unrecognized: Coffee For Your Heart

“You’re beautiful…just as you are.”

That was my writing prompt for this weeks Coffee for Your Heart post.

At first I was going to write an encouraging post
with excerpts from one of my favorite books on the subject of beauty.
It would have been a fine post; good feelings on steroids, with a verse or two.

But then I started thinking...
what if I could share something that wasn't just recycled fluff?


Beauty is something I'm passionate about--
I feel it is an important message that women need to be constantly reminded of.

 But to be honest, I have been struggling with my own beauty lately.
The size on my tags and the numbers on the scale aren't what I wish they were.
And my closet isn't full of all the beautiful clothes I wish I could wear to present my 'best' self.

How could I encourage you if I myself was feeling a little low?

Then one night, as I say in bed thinking about what I was going to write...I stopped.
And I asked a simple question.



"Lord...what IS beauty?
How do YOU see beauty?
What is it YOU want to say to these women about beauty?"



I stopped and waited...
...slowly, Holy Spirit started showing me...

"Just as the world did not accept Me...the world does not always accept your beauty.
The world did not know Me...and the world does not always know you as beautiful."

Now there is a thought to ponder.
It is no news to us that the world's view of beauty is skewed.
But to think...the most beautiful thing to grace this earth...
God, in human form, come down to be amongst man...our Savior...wasn't recognized for His beauty either.


"He was in the world, 
and though the world was made through Him, 
the world did not recognize Him." 
 John 1:10


As that thought began to sink in,
I returned to my other question....what is beauty?

Swift and strong, my mind heard the answer...


"Beauty is an infusion of hope and desire."


Something all beauty has in common...
be it a majestic mountain...
budding flower...
lush green valleys...
a beautiful smile... they offer hope.

Hope in goodness.
Hope for tomorrow.
Hope that love and peace are attainable.
 Beauty awakens a desire to embrace, to continue, to seek, to live.

Immediately, these two verses dropped into my mind...

"For You are my hope, O Lord God...."
Psalm 71:5 NKJV

 

"Delight yourself in the LORD 
and He will give you the desires of your heart."
Psalm 37:4

If beauty is hope and desire,

then you could read those verses...

"You are my beauty, O Lord..."

"...He will give you the beauty of your heart."

Our beauty, quite literally, comes from the Lord.
He is our beauty!


But just as the world did not recognize the beauty of Christ on earth,
often times they won't recognize ours either.


"...The world cannot accept Him, 
because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.... "
John 14:17
 

 

Beauty must been seen and known. Without seeing and knowing Christ,

people will not always recognize the source of our beauty.


We are vessels by which our beauty is a means of saying,
 "There is hope...
there is peace...
there is love,
and it can be found in the greatest and purest measure through Jesus."


We are the image bearers, a small mirror,
reflecting a tiny prism of the light of the Lord through our beauty.

And that is what the Lord showed me about beauty.
I think that is a much better message than what I had (somewhat) prepared before.

So when the world does not recognize your beauty,
just remember, it is because they don't recognize the source of your beauty.
Let your beauty help them see...and by seeing they may come to know that Source.

Remember...you are beautiful.


"The King is enthralled with your beauty.
Honor Him for he is your lord."
Psalms 45:11


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Linking up with Holley Gerth and many other wonderful ladies, with Coffee For Your Heart.