Monday, November 8, 2004
One of the latest “reality show” rages is the extreme makeover in which some rather common looking people (notice how diplomatically I said that) undergo facelifts, dental work, and tummy tucks to make them look more attractive. The popularity of these makeovers illustrates another of life’s disguises: the quest for beauty.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against “the beautiful people”. Of course, I’d rather be in that crowd than the other one, but sadly that train left the station a long time ago.
My old buddy T-Baby on Graball Hill used to say, “Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes all the way to the bone. But then, who wants to have a beautiful pancreas?” Actually, T-Baby was on to something there, because what we think of as beauty is extremely superficial, and very temporal.
George Bernard Shaw said, “I hope you have lost your good looks, for while they last any fool can adore you, and the adoration of fools is bad for the soul. No, give me a ruined complexion and a lost figure and sixteen chins on a farmyard of Crow's feet and an obvious wig. Then you shall see me coming out strong.” My kind of guy! He reminds me of the old saying, “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear!” However, I must say I have seen them come close on extreme makeover!
Isaiah 40:7-8 says, “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”
Some of the most beautiful people I’ve ever known were not particularly attractive. Yet, their inner beauty was magnetic. There was simplicity to their beauty. And that is the key: beauty is not gaudy, it is not superficial. Beauty is simplicity, as flower that is magnificent in its simple symmetry. Emerson said, “As we grow old, the beauty steals inward.”
Garrison Keillor, of Lake Wobegon fame and one of my favorite writers, once wisely said, “Beauty isn't worth thinking about; what's important is your mind. You don't want a fifty-dollar haircut on a fifty-cent head.”
“Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” (1 Chronicles 16:29)
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