I've worked with youth, young adults, and adults in general for many years and they all have something in common. When asked to list three things that make them beautiful, the majority of them have greatly struggled, because all they see are their physical flaws, when in reality that isn't what makes us beautiful. The exterior may make us attractive to some extent, but true beauty is much more than appearance. Things like kindness, generosity, positivity, bravery, and confidence are some of the numerous characteristics that truly make a person beautiful.

Sophia Loren says that "beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical." Sure that was easy for Sophia to say with her incredible physical beauty, but what she said was true. Better said, it would be, "True beauty is what you are inside." If we are only loved for our physical beauty, we will never feel truly loved because that is not the real person.

As Saint Exupery said, "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Ralph Waldo Emerson put it this way, "Though we search the world over for the beautiful, we find it within or we find it not."
   
According to God's Word, "Charm can be deceptive and beauty doesn't last, but a woman [or man] who fears and reverences God shall be greatly praised."²

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to be a beautiful person on the inside and so live that the beauty and love of Jesus will show and shine through me. Allow me also to embrace the person you have created me to be, and not get wrapped in the mindset of this world. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."

1. 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV).
2. Proverbs 31:30 (TLB)(NLT).

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