Beauty

This was one of the biggest notes for me on Facebook. I wrote it a year and a half ago, but I hold a very strong conviction about it, and I took the time to tag the max tag limit on around a dozen copies of it. It took a long time, but it was worth it.


For all the women who God made beautiful, and all the men who are willing to see them as beautiful people.

So, for quite some time now I've been thinking this way, but only just now got really motivated to write it all out. It's been far too long since I last wrote out a note, so if I get really wordy, I'm sorry. I hope all of you see this as God's work in my life, all glory to him in everything.

Beauty. It's very interesting to me that we have so many words we use to describe "good-looking" in English. Pretty, handsome, attractive, sexy, hot, beautiful... society tends to use them in the same general context. I think beauty in particular is not meant to be used in this way.

Let me make a statement here which I will explain in a little bit (since I need to ask permission before I write it =P): Pretty is to describe looks, beauty is to describe appearance. Confused? Saying a person is pretty (or handsome) might mean they have a nice face, good looking eyes, complexion, figure, etc. But for someone to be beautiful, they neither have to be good or bad looking. Someone who I call beautiful is someone who APPEARS good to me. Regardless of how my sense of sight perceives their physical appearance, someone who makes an impression of happiness by smiling a lot, someone who expresses joy, someone who shows the fruits of the spirit, this is someone who I perceive to be... beautiful.

I call all my friends beautiful, guy or girl. But I think especially for the girls, it's tough to accept yourself for who and how you are when many things tell you you need to look a certain way, dress a certain way, talk and act a certain way to be beautiful. Some guys compare girls based on looks, society teaches that the super skinny supermodels are desirable and anyone else needs to change to be acceptable. T.V. shows and movies and books and magazines are full of this shallow view. Disney talks about just being yourself and listening to your heart, all the while taking the best looking actors and actresses they can find and casting them to be the heroes of most of their stories. Look at all the early cartoons, with a dashing prince charming for the beautiful princess. Only Beauty and the Beast had an ugly character, and he became handsome to complete the happy ending.

I love to look to the scripture, and just last night flipped to Isaiah 43. It's too long for me to post here, but I do want to draw out one part in particular (it's worth reading, the whole book is) "Since you were precious in my sight you have been honored and I have loved you." Isaiah 43:4a. I love the passage in Matthew where Jesus tells us not to worry, for the God who created us know even when a sparrow falls to the ground, and how much more does he love us? He created us and loves us SO much more.

God does not make mistakes. He does not create anything bad. Every single person he made he made in his image. The diversity in looks across the world shows his creativity, his artistic ability. We were made to bring him glory. But our worth comes not from outward appearances, from looks, but from who we are and how we bring glory to him. I love the song More from Matthew West (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mITRKCDel44), and Beautiful You by Johnny Diaz (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGZkrn_vaqU) is a good song relative to the topic. It is SO TRUE. I love each and every one of you so much, guys and girls alike, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.

If that is irrelevant to you, I hope you will find this true and rejoice in it. My love for you is imperfect, at my best times I am merely reflecting God's love. GOD LOVES YOU AND THINKS YOU ARE IMMEASURABLY BEAUTIFUL AND OF INFINITE WORTH. God will never have anything less than perfect and perfectly complete love for you, and the children's song holds true: they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.

One last thing, and this is mainly for the guys. As men of Christ, we need to make a stand to imitate God's love in this way. Those of you from MNU who were in Tuesday's chapel a while back, when Mike Davis stood up and asked us to join together, to be the heroes, I hope you meant it, and I hope you find this note to be an encouraging reminder of it. LOVE the women in your life, and let them know that they are beautiful. You don't have to have a romantic interest in a girl to let her know you think she's beautiful. Sometimes it can be taken that way, but don't let that discourage you. It is so important that we realize the true beauty and value in those who God put on this earth with us. It's not in sex, in looking like a model, or any other lie the Prince of this world throws at us. It's in the beauty God put in us.

One more time, and I can't say it enough, I love you all so much and constantly thank God for putting you into my life. He blesses me with new friends and continues to bless me through the influence of the old ones. Family, friends, anyone reading this: You are beautiful, worthwhile and I love you.

~Leon