Beauty is Fleeting...

When I am old in years, wise in the ways of this world, and physically decrepit...No one is going to remember or care whether or not I had a tiny belly bulge from carrying two children to term, or if my arms had acne, or if my eyes had dark circles, or if I wore make correctly. Either I will be loved for my love for life and the joy I bring to people, or I will be despised for my lingering existence because I am grumpy and ornery. If people do remember something of me, it will not be my physical beauty at age 26, but the way I loved people, and the things I did for God and the legacy I hope to leave my future relatives.

I have a Jamaican Mommy. She is one the most selfless people I know, most godly women and good wife/mother. She is old and hunched over, she has chin hairs. She is, to me, the most beautiful old woman I have ever seen. She cooked me breakfast every morning I stayed in her house and she verbally blessed me every time I went out.

There is a little girl down the street named Bella. She is seven and beautiful and so sweet. She loves singing and her mom tells me that she makes up songs all the time. (Reminds me of myself when I was little). She is also a big little girl. Not overweight, just baby fat that hasn't gone yet. Her mom was that way too. I think she is adorable. Her friends told me that she gets made fun of at school and they call her chubby. Not many will be her friend. Her friends even get made fun of for being her friend. She has so much to offer people and chances are that not many children her age will receive it until they are much older. All those kids see is a chubby kid who doesn't fit the stereotype they have learned to accept.

I have been pondering much on vanity, and I invite you do to the same.

The Bible says that beauty is fleeting. Yet, so many of us spend SO much time and money trying to make ourselves look younger and better...To make ourselves fit into some image that this world has convinced us is more worthwhile our time than perfecting our inner beauty. I have fallen victim to this trap, though I am trying my hardest to rid myself of vanity.

The Bible also says that a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. It doesn't say that about a woman that is beautiful. If we live our lives focused more on the unseen that the seen then we will become beautiful in ways that will outlast the physical beauty we now possess. We can not stop the aging process. God says that outwardly we are wasting away every day. Yet, inwardly, we are being renewed...That is, if, we are allowing our minds to be renewed from the lies of this world.

This world is in desperate need of true beauty. Of something that is still there when the wrinkles appear and the streaks of gray start showing. A beauty that will not fade with our hair color or our girlish figures. Let us focus on our hearts and ask God to show us what is in them that makes us too focused on things that don't matter.

** I want to insert a disclaimer. I don't think there is anything wrong with dolling ourselves up. You're more likely to attract friends and ministry opportunities looking clean and well kept than otherwise. You're spouse will probably appreciate it as well. What I am suggesting is that we renew our minds to focus on the beauty that God values and spend more of our time pampering the part of us that we can change, that the parts that are out of our control. I suggest we work out to take care of our bodies so we are around more years, as opposed to working out to achieve our prepregnancy weight or to fit an image we saw in a magazine.

P.S. I made a vow years ago to never dye my hair again. In fact, I can't wait to have gray hair. I think it is beautiful.