Tag: Beauty

How do we see others?

I was watching a man and woman who had been married for many years. I could tell by the ease with which they interacted that they still loved each other very much.

They were not young and beautiful anymore, but they ‘saw’ each other.

When he looked her in the eye, I could tell by the way he looked he wasn’t seeing the older misshapen figure, the wrinkles, the grey hair. It seemed to me he didn’t even see the outer physical woman. He saw her spirit, her personality, the ‘real’ woman she had become. His love for her encompassed her physically, but he paid it no mind at all as he saw the most important part.

He saw her real beauty. He saw her compassion, her grace, her sense of humour. It seemed to me in that moment of looking her in the eye, he saw everything about her, the good and the not so good. And still, he loved her.

Though we all have our small peculiarities, that isn’t the bit that matters when we look with eyes of love.

Shakespeare said in his 116th Sonnet,

Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments;

Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove.

O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wand’ring bark whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.

Love’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle’s compass come.

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom:

If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

And for me, that says it all, except for one more thing.

God doesn’t see or really care about our outward appearance. He sees us with love, the kind of love that never alters. His love is an ever-fixed mark.

God sees our heart. He created each one of us. He made us in His image, gave us a physical body that serves us while we live on earth. That’s all our bodies are for, to live on this earth, to do His will.

That’s all and we got it so, so wrong.

The world looks on the outside and cares little for the real inner person. We might be in the world but we are not to live as the world lives.

So, it’s a choice, do we spend time caring what others think of our hair, the clothing we wear, if we wear make-up, how skinny we are or are not; if we conform to the world’s standards?

Or do we look people in the eye and accept them as someone whom Jesus died for? Do we care what they are wearing, if they are homeless or if they are well-to-do? Or do we see the real person, the one who loves, laughs, weeps and mourns? The scared, and hopeless?

If it makes no difference to the One who loves perfectly, why then do we care?

Not sure about anyone who’s reading this but for me I’d like to ban mirrors everywhere!! I want to care more about the person on the inside and not give a fig for what they look like on the outside. That’s the way of the world, I want to live God’s way.

God’s way is to see with eyes of love, compassion and mercy. Jesus is the only One who can judge righteously so let us leave that to Him and focus on the loving bit.

Following are a few Scripture verses that likely say it way better than I can.

1 Samuel 16:7 is where Samuel is going to anoint the next king of Israel. He is directed by the LORD to go to the house of Jesse with this one caveat, “the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Luke 16:15; So He said to them, You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.

John 7:24; Stop judging by outward appearances and start judging justly.

Love that sees beyond the outer appearance to the person that desperately wants to be seen, that’s the kind of love I want to grow into. How about you?

Blessings to you on your own Journey of learning to ‘see’ and love as God does.

Baruch Adonai,

Brenda

Weeds a.k.a Sin

                                                                             Wednesday, July 3, 2019

I went out early this morning to walk around in the cool air, checking on how my gardens are doing. It’s been so hot and I wanted to check who might need a bit of watering before the blazing sun hits them again today.

When I took out the grass to plant my English country garden, I chose to dig it out rather than cover it over with landscape fabric. The people who lived here before us chose to use the fabric and we are in one dreadful mess, so I didn’t want to go that route.

So, I dug down deep, pulled out all the grass roots, replaced with good topsoil and triple mix and after I planted the perennials I bought, I mulched deep, at least 4 inches in most places and intend to add more layers of mulch each year.

I worked hard throughout May and June and I take great delight in seeing those tiny plants I put in, not only growing strong but beginning to bloom.

I have to say, it’s starting to look glorious! It’s very satisfying to see that the vision I had in my head during the winter months, is becoming the reality I hoped it would.

But, (and don’t you sometimes just hate the ‘but’??) this morning went I went out to water and check and I was a bit perturbed to see that despite all my efforts, little bits of grass and that blasted weed Speedwell are randomly popping up in my well built gardens!!

Then I realized, those weeds are like sin. I know you’ve likely heard this many times, but it reminded me this morning that sin can creep into a what we think is a well-tended area of our lives. If we are not vigilant to dig them out when they are small and controllable, their roots twist and twine and grow into a strong vigorous system which is much more difficult to get out. Like most weeds, sin grows under the surface and when it finally makes its presence known, popping up looking all tiny and manageable, it’s terribly hard to root out.

It takes attentiveness and hard work to make a garden beautiful. If I don’t tend those little weeds daily, it will soon become a tangled mess, choking out the beauty of my garden.

So it is with sin, we have to be watchful to catch the little ones and pluck them out before they grow strong so the beauty of Christ can be seen in the garden of our lives.