So, I usually try my best to write these so that the gents won't blush or feel awkward while reading them...But today, I can't. It's nothing so bad, but we will be talking about what it means to be truly lovely, so be warned.
As I've sought after God since I started my relationship with him six years ago, he will sometimes put a word into my life that he prompts me to focus intensely on and learn from. At one time it was gentleness, and it ended up that that focus on gentleness lasted the entire year. That year was spent searching out the true meaning of gentleness...In word but especially in action. Soon after gentleness came sweetness, and though sweetness is not technically a fruit of the spirit and appears a rather flimsy word, focusing on that idea for months profoundly changed my heart, my relationships, and my life. As of now, the word that has been on my heart is LOVELY. Lovely is a word that I have noticed has faded into the background of vocabulary and our culture. You hardly ever hear people genuinely calling something or someone lovely, and if you do it's usually someone like your grandma. Personally, I think that it is one of the most magnificent words in the English language. It means so much while saying so little. (As a poet, my favorite kind of word) Even the definition in the plain English dictionary is breathtaking...Lovely:"Exquisitely Beautiful" "EXQUISITELY BEAUTIFUL!!!" Have you ever seen something exquisitely beautiful? Something that simply takes your breath away because it is truly lovely? If you say that you have not...My dear you are very truly about to, but in order to do so you must leap... And you are leaping into something so terrifyingly wonderful that you will never go back. YOU ARE LOVELY... YOU...ARE...LOVELY Now do not dare brush this off as some motivational self-esteem boosting Facebook quote!!!! Do not dare do that because if you do, this time will have been wasted. You may have read this hundreds of times against some colorful sunset background and said "yes, my eyeliner looks great today and my rolls are a little less noticeable than usual... I can sort of feel good about that." But have you ever stopped to think of WHY? Why are you exquisitely beautiful? Because you are made in the image, and are constantly reflecting even when you do not acknowledge it... The very nature of "exquisite beauty"... My love, you are not lovely because you have beautiful eyes, or perfect brows...You are lovely because you were formed as a mirror and painting of the most lovely One in the universe. GOD. He loved you so much, that He HAND CRAFTED a body, mind, spirit, and soul that was an absolutely unique reflection of his goodness and beauty. You have a kind of loveliness that no other soul in this universe possesses because you possess just the kind that God personally gifted YOU with. This kind of loveliness is in every human on this planet because this is the story of every human on this planet. If that is indeed the case, then why does our ability to see loveliness seem so distorted? Have you ever wondered why humanity tries so desperately to create an image of loveliness to conform to? May it be that the evil that be in this world is trying to convince us that only the external ideal is lovely? Maybe because if people knew that they were exquisitely beautiful because of their beloved creator they would turn to Him and stop focusing on themselves and their self-alterations, and begin reflecting that knowledge to others? How powerful that would be eh? ... And terrifying for Him. He keeps us ensnared in our vanity, "self-esteem", and worry so that we become ineffective and dull on the inside... Our mirror, the one that enables us to reflect our own unique loveliness and see it, and that shines light on others becomes foggy and defective because without light to sustain the reflection there is no reflection. My loves, you are not here on this earth to build good self-esteem. You are here to enjoy the loveliness that your creator is, and has placed in you, and in the people around you. We are not yet perfect reflections...We often have cracks and smudges and cannot even see ourselves well, but if we choose to pursue vision of this "exquisite beauty" that is God and his creation, our lives will begin to reflect that pursuit...And we will become all the more lovely because of it. His light will illuminate our reflection so that it cannot help but be seen. We will draw others to us, and be drawn to HIM together.
1 Comment
Bella
2/21/2018 01:33:38 pm
I NEEDED THIS. EVERY PERSON NEEDS THIS. I have often found myself sinking into the hollow, bottomless pit of craving physical beauty, and fixating myself on that. Believing that my worth comes from who other people judge me as, who the world says I am, inside and out. But when I simply some back to my beautiful Jesus, He reminds me that I AM BEAUTIFUL, I am lovely, because He created me that way. He held me in his palm and shaped me then, and He will continue to do so if I let him. Thank you for that reminder.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Where two or More...My dears, this blog is a safe and free space to talk about the things of life, love, and mystery. Your contribution is wonderful and valued. Archives
February 2021
Topics |