In the eye of THE Beholder. . .

-
Beauty: (n) a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.

Thank you google.

The world convinces us that beauty is based upon the clothing we wear, the makeup that covers our face, our dress size, how toned our arms/legs are, the color of our skin, and so much more. It is evident in the commercials, magazines, videos, music, social media, and more that we are bombarded with daily.

Beauty, in the world's mind, is comparison. Think about it. You are not beautiful unless you are thinner than your friend on Facebook. You are not beautiful unless your lips are fuller/redder/smoother than the model in the magazine. You are not beautiful unless your clothes are more expensive/ your hair is more voluminous/ your legs are longer/ blah blah blah.

Stahp! Stop comparing. Beauty is not comparison. Beauty is the individual decision to see yourself from a different perspective; it is not based upon outer appearance but on our ACTIONS.

One of my favorite voices of beauty is the ever classy Audrey Hepburn.

A truly beautiful person is not focused on the person they see in the mirror, but on the people that surround them daily. 


This does not mean that beautiful people focus on those that are easy to focus on. Truly beautiful people love and serve the people that are not easily loved and served. Truly beautiful people find those that need their help the most. Instead of looking inward on the problems that they are faced with, they attempt to do as Mosiah 18 says: "Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort. . . "

A truly beautiful person is a happy person.

Happy people are beautiful people. Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the seventy said, ". . . No amount of eye shadow, lipstick, or mascara could possibly compete with the natural attractiveness of a genuine smile. It brightens the room. It cheers others. It communicates friendship, love, and optimism so much more than any cosmetic ever could. It puts people at ease and is welcoming. Truly in the world of glamor, there is no close second to a genuine smile." 

A truly beautiful person is a virtuous person.

Elaine S. Dalton, another of my favorite voices of beauty, said, " Deep beauty springs from virtue. It is the beauty of being chaste and morally clean. It is the kind of beauty that you see in the eyes of virtuous women like your mother and grandmother. It is a beauty that is earned through faith, repentance, and honoring covenants." 

Proverbs 3:10 states: "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." True beauty is invaluable; it is not man-made and cannot be purchased.


A truly beautiful person has a beautiful soul.


Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 says: "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God."

Notice that it says the worth of SOULS not the worth of clothes. Nor does it say the worth, based on what the world thinks, is great in the sight of God. 

Elder Lynn G. Robbins puts it beautifully, " If you are discouraged about your appearance, it will help to see yourself through the eyes of those who love you. Hidden beauty seen by loved ones can become a mirror for self-improvements. This phenomenon of the person internalizing the expectations of others with subsequent positive change has become known as the Pygmalion effect, after the famous play in which the “guttersnipe,” Eliza Dolittle, becomes the refined My Fair Lady. The beauty was always there; Eliza only needed help from others to discover it.
Our Father in Heaven provides the perfect example of this principle. He sees our divine nature. We are His children. The way He sees us, because of His love for us, is perfect. The mirror which He holds constantly before us, if we will only raise our sight to look, is the one in which we should trust. Its image is always true and never distorted. He reminds us, as He did Moses, “Thou art my son [or daughter]” (Moses 1:4)

Your Heavenly Father gave His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for your soul.  The price He payed for you is far greater than any price we can pay to "beautify" ourselves. His perspective of you is far beyond our comprehension. 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Heavenly Father is the ultimate "beholder." His is the only opinion in which we should rely. It is never skewed, biased, or irrational. His is a perfect and everlasting opinion. (1 Nephi 10:18) If we align our opinion of ourselves with the opinion of our Heavenly Father, beauty is no longer a commodity to be purchased, superficially created, and compared but an everlasting principle of love, service, happiness and virtue.










Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Its YOUR Choice

-
Image
"She made me do it!" I think that is something we've all said and heard many a time from a young child who has been caught in the act. And while we chuckle now, there are instances where we claim the same thing. As human beings we naturally blame others for our weaknesses, insecurities, and mistakes. It is embarrassing to admit you are wrong. (Believe me, I've done it far too many times.) And placing the blame on another is so easy. But you are the only one that can decide what you feel and how you act. " Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves-- to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life ." (2 Nephi 10:23) There are five phrases that could be completely erased from society's vocabulary if we decided for ourselves to have a different attitude. Let me share. He makes me so angry/happy/sad/mad. . .  No one can make you do anything.  That's the beautiful thing about the gift...
Read more

And so it begins. . .

-
Beginnings are scary things.  Whether it's the beginning of a new school year,  a new job, a new relationship, a blog :), or a lifestyle change, beginnings can be intimidating.  Why is that?  Why are we, as human beings, so afraid of change? Change is scary because sometimes we don't want to change.  We become comfortable and our situation becomes manageable.  We refuse to believe that anything can make us more satisfied/happier/more successful/healthier/etc. . . than we are now. But we are not scared of change itself, but of the unknown. And the scary thing is that no matter how much knowledge we gain, there will always be unknowns.  Think about it this way.  There is only so much I can learn from books, online posts, doctors, moms, etc. . . about childbirth.  I will never know what childbirth is really like until I actually experience that. But do you want to know what the beautiful part of the unknown is? Even though the unknown is sc...
Read more

Coloring Inside the Lines

-
Image
Image courtesy of historyofpencils.com I liked my hippos purple. I grabbed a crayon from the aluminum tin on the kitchen table that had been dubbed “crayon heaven.” This purple was too dark; it was too blue. I dug through the wax rainbow in front of me until I pulled out the perfect one: Purple Flurp. I shoved a handful of Cheerios in my mouth as I began to add color to the circus hippo in my new coloring book. I had nearly filled in every inch of the smiling hippo’s body when I heard someone come up behind me. “Good morning! Looks like your hippo spilled some of his colors on the floor,” Mom teased as she put Kate in the high chair. I examined the masterpiece in front of me and noticed that I had gone outside the lines— right by the hippo’s giant toe nail. My small heart fell as I realized I had made a mistake. I felt my cheeks turn a brighter shade of red than the Razzmatazz crayon on the table. “I can fix it,” I replied, scrambling to find a white crayon. The white ones w...
Read more