When you see something beautiful in someone, tell them. It may take a second to say, but for them it could last a life time. Ruthie Lindsey
Meditation: I remember growing up that both my parents had a hard time acknowledging beauty. They occasionally mentioned inner beauty as the “heart or soul beauty”. But not outer beauty or beautiful ways of being. When I left home at nineteen, my five year younger sister stayed behind. Before I moved out, I told my parents to tell her as often as possible how beautiful she was. Today I am telling my teenage girls every day how beautiful they are. I am not saying this to make them become vain or conceited. I am not afraid as my Pietistic ancestors were that this could happen. I just know that in our current culture, we often face competitive behavior and hurtful comments, which can easily be cruel, critical, and jealous or mean… And so, I hope my naming the beauty of my girls will last them a life time, and they will be surrounded by a spiritual layer of protection, as they come to believe how wonderfully they are made.
Prayer: God of wonder and beauty, I thank you for inner and for outer beauty. I thank you for your Spirit that calls us beautiful and that instills in us respect and wonder for how we are made. Help us to take that second to affirm a child, a teenager, and even an adult when we see beauty in them. Words can build up or tear apart. Let us all join Your Spirit in building up, in affirming and in celebrating each other! And we are grateful. Amen
You are beautiful for you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14
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