Beauty~

I had forgotten....

Women are to bring beauty to our 'world'...

"Beauty is an essence that dwells in every woman. It was given to her by God. It was given to you. All beauty speaks of God. For God is nothing if not Beautiful. Simone Weil wrote: "The beauty of the world is almost the only way by which we can allow God to penetrate us... Beauty captivates the senses in order to obtain permission to pass straight through to the soul... The souls' inclination to love beauty is the trap God most frequently uses in order to win it."

God has given beauty to Eve, to every woman. Beauty is core to a woman- who she is and what she longs to be- and one of the most glorious ways we bear the image of God in a broken and often ugly world. How do you bring beauty to your world?

Beauty is the most essential and, yes, the most misunderstood of all the feminine qualities. We want you to hear clearly that it is an essense every woman carries from the moment of her creation. The only things standing in the way of our beauty are our doubts and fears and the hiding and striving we fall to as a result."

(~Captivating, Unvieling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul) 

SO...... how can I bring beauty to my world??? I don't want my children to remember me as the weary unlovely thing I feel... How will they remember me... I need to be what I want them to remember. Lovely, LOVE-ly, as in full of love. I had learned this one... but drifted into a somewhat dispassionate place. My sweet Lord gave me a reminder this a.m., and my husband confirmed when I said I want to remember to bring beauty to our world, he said, yes, that is what I miss. (Me: sad to realize he had noticed... duh, right? They DO notice) He said I had it, he remembered when I was practicing it and then just had it down, without trying. 

HOW DO WE LOSE THE THINGS WE LEARN??? GRRR! Isn't life and seeking to grow difficult enough without LOSING things?!!

It is a fight, isn't it. We are in a battle. This short journey on earth is a battle, but... One Day, one glorious Day, "that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to meditate in His temple." (Ps 27:4) Ahhhh, how sweet is my Lord. 

p.s. don't miss the part about our beauty NOT coming from our looks, our clothes, body, etc., our beauty is in our essense, it is about who we are, who we are still becoming. Thank you, Lord, for that one, too.