“mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest… scratch that… who is the purest of them all?”
dear rory,
once upon a time, in a land that was obsessed with beauty and appearance, lived a woman. this woman was an older lady. she was small. she was slight. she was weak and yellow and frail. and on top of all that, she was sick. very sick. she had had cancer for sixteen years and it had taken its toll on her body.
to be honest, she wasn’t very beautiful… at least, not if you gave her a brief glance. not if you were making a quick evaluation.
why, if you had happened to live in this land and had happened to know this woman and had happened to be the doctor who gave her a check-up, you would have noticed that besides being small and frail and unattractive, she was also bruised and beat up. especially her knees.
how did such a woman belong in such a land?
she didn’t.
she didn’t belong in that land at all. yes, she lived there, but her heart belonged in a kingdom that was far greater than that petty land. she belonged to a kingdom that was ruled by a mighty King. the mightiest King that ever was. a King she had given her life to as a gift to build His Kingdom. a King she would soon get to meet face to face.
I remember hearing of this woman’s death. you see, I live in the same land that she did. this woman was a dear friend of our family’s. her name was Ruth, and while she was not the most beautiful in the land, she was one of the most beautiful women in the kingdom.
for sixteen years she had battled her cancer. for sixteen years she had prayed and cried out to the King of Kings. for sixteen years, she never turned her back on Him.
she used her last few days to witness to the hospice nurse caring for her. that nurse became a citizen of the kingdom.
and what of those bruises on Ruth’s knees? how did she get them? I cry even as I write this- those bruises were from the hours she spent kneeling in prayer.
not hours praying for herself. hours praying for others. hours praying for me.
looks can be deceiving.
especially in this land in which we live.
I have a childhood memory that frequently haunts my mind.
(side note: isn’t it annoying how we remember some of the oddest, most obscure things about childhood, but seem to forget all the important events? like remembering the scary biker neighbor bringing his pet iguana over for a visit but not remembering the birth of a sibling?)
like I was saying… I have this childhood memory that frequently haunts my mind. years and years ago, I was at AWANA (a Bible group for kids) and at this particular Wednesday night meeting, we had a guest speaker. and the speaker had brought two cakes.
one was beautifully decorated. instantly it made my stomach growl and my eyes bug out. a frozen sea of white, creamy frosting glazed the surface and little candy flowers ornamented this miracle of a cake. the other cake was frosted a nasty color… pea green. and it had no flowers or borders, only a light dusting of bitter coffee grounds.
I saw the speaker take out a knife to cut the cakes, and in that moment I knew what was going to happen. the other little girls watched hungrily as the speaker cut into the beautiful cake. I leaned back and cringed.
as you may have guessed, the beautiful cake was nasty on the inside, and the ugly one was filled with springy, yellow yummy-ness.
I wasn’t surprised. but the whole thing bothered me. and I didn’t know why. so the memory grabbed a magazine, got comfortable in some back corner, and for many years only occasionally strolled to the front of my mind to see if I could make anything of it.
after Ruth died, it hit me. a cake that is ugly on the outside and nice on the inside doesn’t exist. and THAT’S what had been bothering me for so long.
you see, we have become so accustomed to living in this land, that we have forgotten what beauty is. beauty isn’t how much frosting you can pile on a cake or how much make-up you can paint on a face. It isn’t how many sugary flowers you can place on top or how many layers of nice clothes you can wear.
beauty is what radiates from a person. beauty is what makes you forget a person’s outward imperfections and only see the smile in their eyes. it’s the kind tone you hear in their voice. it’s the warmth you feel in their grasp. it’s the wrinkles bearing witness to years of smiling friendliness.
beauty is what you find when you stop searching someone’s face for what this land considers beautiful and allow yourself to see something bigger. beauty is allowing yourself to see the King shining through an individual.
I can honestly say I have never met a person who is pure on the inside and ugly on the outside. ugly cakes with perfect middles just don’t exist.
it’s easy to judge a book by its cover. people in this land do it all the time.
what’s harder and not as normal is to judge a cover by the book.
from the inside looking out.
love you!
muffin
oh, that I would learn to desire that beauty above all the distractions.
ReplyDeletereminders always hits home. thanks, muffin.
Good thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the world thinks it ugly, Peter says that wives submitting to husbands with a meek and quiet spirit makes them beautiful (1 Pet 3:1-5).
beauty is allowing yourself to see the King shining through an individual.
Agreed.
Not sure what you meant by these statements though:
a cake that is ugly on the outside and nice on the inside doesn’t exist.
I can honestly say I have never met a person who is pure on the inside and ugly on the outside. ugly cakes with perfect middles just don’t exist.
You could mean,
I've never met a pure person, because we're all sinful. So we're all ugly on the inside.
Or, you could mean,
People who are godly on the inside won't be ugly on the outside, because their godliness will show on the outside. So there's no such thing as a person who's good on the inside but ugly on the outside, because the inner beauty will always show itself.
My guess is that you mean the second interpretation, but I couldn't tell for sure.
thanks, Conrad. yes, i meant the second interpretation. :) sorry for not making that clearer.
ReplyDeleteI just remembered that Pastor said something similar to what you said, about people who are godly on the inside will show it on the outside, when he pointed out in a sermon about a month ago that Paul summarizes the law in the *second* great commandment, about loving the neighbor.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Calvin's Institutes says something similar too. In Institutes 2.8.52, he says,
For the obedience of the First Table consisted almost entirely either in the internal affection of the heart, or in ceremonies. The affection of the heart was not visible, and hypocrites were diligent in the observance of ceremonies; but the works of charity were of such a nature as to be a solid attestation of righteousness. The same thing occurs so frequently in the Prophets, that it must be familiar to every one who has any tolerable acquaintance with them. For, almost on every occasion, when they exhort men to repentance, omitting the First Table, they insist on faith, judgment, mercy, and equity. Nor do they, in this way, omit the fear of God. They only require a serious proof of it from its signs. It is well known, indeed, that when they treat of the Law, they generally insist on the Second Table, because therein the cultivation of righteousness and integrity is best manifested. There is no occasion to quote passages. Every one can easily for himself perceive the truth of my observation. (emphasis mine)
Calvin, John; Beveridge, Henry (2011-01-28). The Institutes of the Christian Religion (best navigation with Direct Verse Jump) (Kindle Locations 7574-7581). OSNOVA. Kindle Edition.
Anyway, I thought you might want to know that you were in really good company when you said, "I can honestly say I have never met a person who is pure on the inside and ugly on the outside." :)