Wednesday, August 31, 2011

endowed with splendor

Well, let's see how a very sleep-deprived Stacia blogs!  Should be fun.

 Let's talk about BEAUTY.  Oh dear, when I write it like that, it seems so daunting.  Let's not be so epic. 

When thinking about beauty, I always think of a verse about differing splendors.  Thank you, Paul (NOT whom I'd expect for beauty insights!).   I Cor. 15:38-41:
"Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. "

Each of us is endowed with splendor although we differ from another in splendor.  Every woman is beautiful in a very personal way.  The God who calls the stars out by name ensures a handcrafted beauty.


We display His splendor (Is. 49:3, 60:21, 61:3. 62:3).   He has endowed us with splendor (Is 60:9). [Yes, those verses are about Israel.  We're grafted in.  They're also about the redeemed and the already-but not yet kingdom of God.]. 

yeah yeah yeah there are many things in this world that try to destroy beauty (and I think some of the major ones are frantic attempts FOR beauty, e.g. botox and eating issues).  But as we draw closer to God (THE BEAUTY), the ashes themselves become beautiful.  Restoration Resurrection HOPE. 

One of my favorite things is the moment when a veil is lifted and I see a woman's beauty.  It's especially fun if there are things that might mar the beauty.  When you're talking with her and she smiles or looks a certain way... and LOVELINESS is revealed.
Simply and irrevocably.  Oh I love that moment.  Then you know how to see, and you can see God's splendor whenever you see her.

May we all have Jesus' eyes to see.

Just one more note: we are beautiful just because God gives us beauty.  None of it is our own.  There is incredible rest in that truth.  It's all to Him and through Him...and FOR Him.  God loves beautiful women, he created a lot of us!  And we can rest in our beauty, for it depends on Jesus, not us.

Let me end with a movie quote from Twister.  I never ever thought I would write that sentence. 
The aunt catches the leading lady primping in her bedroom, and says, "Well, there's nothing you can do.  You're beautiful."

:)

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