This piece of art was created by one of my favorite artists around today… Kelly Rae Roberts. She is truly inspirational. Both her writing and her art have been huge change agents in my life as of late.
This particular piece has been on my mind for the past couple of weeks. The word “beautiful” gets tossed around a lot. However, what does “beautiful” really mean? Who defines “beautiful”? Who decides what is “beautiful” and what is not?
To some, beautiful is merely an adjective used to describe the outward appearance. For much of my life (and in some moments even now), I have the tendency to limit the word beautiful in this way. However, the word, when broken apart prohibits this definition. Beautiful. Beauty-full. Full of beauty.
I mean, if the term was merely based on outward appearance wouldn’t it refer to being covered in beauty? It makes my heart sing to see it reinforced in such a blatant way that beauty is indeed more than skin deep!
This is what our quest should be… to not just be covered in beauty. To not have our hair or our skin or our bodies be covered in beauty without the fullness of that beauty in our hearts, souls, spirits, and minds! Instead of looking in the mirror and asking, “How do I look?” We should really be asking, “How does my heart look?” If every person on the street could see my heart as clearly as they see my made up face or my manicured nails, would they still say that I am beautiful?
Some of the most beautiful people that I know will never grace the covers of magazines. To the untrained eye, they seem average, ordinary, and even mediocre. Yet, they personify the word “beauty-full.” They love. They laugh. They forgive. They give…of themselves, of their time, their energy, and their lives. They let others grow. They let others in, refusing to hoard the beauty that is within them, but sharing it with the world. They serve cups of coffee and hold the hands of children and invite people over when they would rather be resting. They sing with all their might. They are honest and true and loyal and kind. They lend. They listen. They give advice. They are not afraid to stand beside the ones they love, through the good and the bad. They believe in grace. They believe in unconditional love. They believe in redemption.
They are beautiful, not because their eyes are a certain color, or their nails or a certain shape, or their hair is a certain shade, or because the scale says a certain number… but they are beautiful because of the deep, unchanging, and ageless beauty within them. Their spirits, hearts, and souls are so full of this beauty that it springs out of them and into the lives of those around them.
That should be our goal-- to allow the light and love to flow from within us into the hearts and lives of others. Let us cultivate the beauty within us AND take time to recognize the beauty in others!
Let us be beaty-full!
