Beauty

By Janet Morris Grimes –

Beauty. Magazine covers scream its requirements from shallow pages, taunting us with the latest version of retouched perfection. The images offer a million different ways to chase the unattainable, oversimplifying the five simple steps to longer, fuller, lighter, whiter, and smoother.

Thankfully, I never belonged in that world. Disappointed with the lack of any true freckle remover as I grew up, my naked face and overweight eyebrows approached life as-is, with occasional tweaking for special occasions. If true beauty required hours of prep work, we were less than interested.

For this reason, I doubt I will ever be what the world considers “beautiful.”

Sigh.

I gladly relinquish that title, and the responsibility that goes with it.
For what I do know is that the moments I have felt the most beautiful are those where mirrors do not exist.

Sitting in silence on a beach as the sun whispers “good night,” offering one last wink and a kiss before bedtime, I feel beautiful.

Sleeping upright on the couch with my infant son asleep on my chest and running my fingers through his curly hair, I feel beautiful. To him at least.

Covered in a moving cloud of flour from head to toe while preparing a meal for those I love the most, I feel beautiful.

Taking communion while kneeling at the cross, as if Jesus and I are the only ones in the room, I feel beautiful.

Walking hand in hand with my daughters as they reveal their concerns about life in a maddening pace of words, I feel beautiful, and pray that they do the same.

Hearing my sister’s far away voice say before she hangs up the phone,
“Hurry home. I’m not me without you.” I feel beautiful.

Finding a way to give a surprise gift to others, especially when they do not realize it is from me, I feel beautiful.

Splashing and dancing in the rain with my husband, I feel beautiful.
Digging deep enough to write words that make others cry, I feel beautiful.
I guess true beauty, for me, has much more to do with what boils over on the inside than what you see on the outside.

And if I had to choose between the two?

Feeling beautiful is much more rewarding than chasing down fleeting images through a distorted hall of mirrors, for mirrors never reveal what truly matters most.

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall?

Stay right where you are.

My search for beauty leads elsewhere.

I Peter 3:3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.

God on the Spot – Part 5: Delivering His People

By Dianne E. Butts –

In Part 4, we saw that God used Joseph in Egypt to save the bloodline of Abraham to Messiah. After the famine, Joseph’s family (Abraham’s descendants) stayed in Egypt.

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So What’s the Big Deal About Going to Church?

By Janet Morris Grimes –

Church has always been a huge part of my life. As a young child, I remember the smell of the hymnals as I sat next to my Granny, watching her hold the book close and sing as if she and God were the only ones in the room. I drew imaginary pictures on the back of her thin hands. I loved the rattling of the pages of the Bible that sounded like rain as everyone followed wherever the preacher was taking them. Even back then, though I sometimes found it boring, there was no place that I would rather be.

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Glory Hogs

John T. McNeal –

There seems to be one in every crowd, and if there is more than one it turns into a competition. I am talking about Glory Hogs. No, I’m not talking about a motocross website or even a punk rock band out of California. I’m talking about that one person who tries to make their story more impressive – either better or worse – than the next person’s. According to urbandictionary.com, a good definition of glory hog is “When one uses a story/saying/information/anecdote that they received or overheard from another individual they know and they do not cite the source. In turn, implying that they themselves are the original source of information.”

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God on the Spot – Part 4: The Provision

By Dianne E. Butts –

In Part 2, God put Himself on the spot by promising to provide a Messiah to redeem people from their sin. In Part 3, He put Himself in a narrower spot by promising that Messiah would come through a particular family’s bloodline, that of Abraham and Sarah.

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