Beauty in God’s Eyes

My great-grandmother was beautiful. Her given name was Margaret Mary, but she was known as  “Pretty Marie” from the time she was a girl. Her curly hair was raven-colored, piled high on her head, her eyes large and deep brown in color. She had very defined lips, curved in a slight smile, her cheekbones high. She had natural musical talent, playing guitar and piano without ever taking a lesson. She caught the attention of my great-grandfather, John, when she was a teenager caring for her younger siblings after the death of her mother. She eloped with him one Sunday in 1912, at age seventeen, stealing out of a church service to his waiting wagon.

 While few would deny Marie’s outer beauty, she also had inner beauty that showed through her kind nature. When her sister-in-law gave birth to twins who did not survive, she bathed and dressed the babies in little gowns to prepare them for burial in a country cemetery close to the family farm.  When her cousin became ill with Tuberculosis, Marie brought her to her own home, where she was nurtured back to health after a lengthy stay. Marie made her own cheese and butter and walked several miles from her farm with her two little daughters in tow to sell to a country merchant in order to contribute to her family’s income.

It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  But God looks beyond  physical beauty to the inner, lasting qualities that touch His Heart…

to slander or abuse no one, to be kind and conciliatory and gentle, showing unqualified consideration and courtesy toward everyone. Titus 3:2

Kindness, gentleness, and consideration towards others may not be seen in a mirror, but they are experienced by those they touch in a lasting and beautiful way. You could say that they are God’s idea of beauty!