Words of Encouragement - Your Beauty

Last night I decided to do my hair.

I have obnoxiously wavy hair that likes to be either short or shoulder length. Anything inbetween is just impossible. Curls Rock is my friend. Throw a little of that in there and waves become curls...the end.

When I was younger I had a friend who had a lot of experience with hair styling do my hair. Wow, was that a good day! I should have been on Oprah because I had the makeover experience she always talks about. I sat down in Erica's chair with frizzy crazy hair and stood up with sleek, straight, totally different hair! I was thrilled! After my children were born, my hair decided that no matter what amount of product I put in it, it would never become sleek and shiny again. Man!

I had my hair cut last week and things looked promising. Mind you, the cut length is between the two lengths of manageable hair I described to you earlier, so it's pretty bushy right now but I was optimistic because of the picture in the magazine Emily modeled my hair cut after. Why can't I look like that? If her hair (the woman's in the magazine) can look like that then there is no reason why mine can't! I decided to take the 15 minutes and try to straight iron my hair. With gel and iron-in spray and shine gloss and more hair spray, low and behold, it became straight again! I couldn't believe it! I stepped back to admire myself and got a surprise I was NOT expecting.

I don't look like I did the last time my hair straightened out like that! My face is a little more wrinkly, under my eyes are blacker, my eyebrows are bushier, my hair is grayer. I am older!!!! Take it back!! I was so disappointed and no amount of lipstick and make up can cover that up.

I do not enjoy the bodily effects of getting older. Here's the thing though. God does. He knows that maturity and growth are far better assets than keeping incredibly straight smooth skin and hair and this is what He says about it.

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Proverbs 31:30

"Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life." Proverbs 16:30-32

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry 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." 1 Peter 3:3-4

Feel better? Me neither.

Try this.

"He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him." Isaiah 53:2

Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Isaiah 46:4

Jesus, beautiful Jesus, was nothing spectacular to look at. He was simply a man, yet holy God. He wanted to be sought after because of His words of truth and wisdom, because of His love for us, because of His Father, not because of His beauty. He could have chosen any form to take, but He chose to take the cloak of humility and humanity.

Secondly, what is important to recognize when I look in the mirror and see my gray hair is that God has sustained me. Through good and bad circumstances, He has been there. He has carried me. He has made me just as I am and that's what He sees. Over and over through the course of the Bible, God reminds us that outward beauty passes and inner beauty is what remains. He reminds both women and men to focus on that beauty, true beauty.

It's all about focus. When I look in the mirror and am disappointed by the disappearance of my youthfulness, I must look again and see what He wants me to see. Maybe the verses I first listed don't make me feel immediately better, but they are truth. Even if they don't change my heart right away, with His help they will.

Beautiful one, delight in your beauty today.