“One never realizes their true beauty until their eyesight begins to fade.”
Sara
What do you see?
Consider the lilies of the field… Matt 6:28
Consider the lilies of the field… Matt 6:28
“One never realizes their true beauty until their eyesight begins to fade.”
Sara
What do you see?
thedailylily.com 
I don’t know about that one, Sara. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But maybe it’s the manifestation of a godly and quiet spirit that shows the beauty of Christ Jesus and not what the mirror physically reflects. Maybe after years and years of trial and error in attempting to follow the Holy Spirit we finally come to the point that we Do hear His voice and we begin to DO what He says and then we begin to LOOK LIKE JESUS. Maybe not!
I think true beauty is a person who reflects Jesus. The most ‘beautiful’ people I have ever met were the most sold out to Jesus so that His Life was really exhibited in them. Reminds me of this hymn
“Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. All His wonderful passion and purity. O my Savior divine, all my being refine. Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.”
When someone really walks with the Lord, they have learned to walk by faith and not by sight. (II Cor 5:7). So maybe their natural ‘eyesight’ fades, faith increases and so does their inner beauty.
Like the chorus says:
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.”
Yes it is Jesus reflected in, through, and outward that makes one truely beautiful. It seems when our eyes begin to fade on the things of the world and focus on Jesus our character begins to be more and more like Jesus. The eyes the window of the soul may sparkle like diamonds and the face shine with the glory of Jesus being worn upon it – the makeup is Jesus applied from the inside out. The special one called by Jesus carries Jesus like a beaming light everywhere he or she goes. No one looks at wrinkle of time, but on the message of the holder of the character of Jesus. This past week the song “I Love to Tell the Story” has been a song I could not do without morning, noon, and night. God blessed me with hearing it song at our church on Sunday. Telling the story of Jesus and how he did it in your life everywhere you go will be true beauty wherever you go.
I Love to Tell the Story
Text: Katherine Hankey, 1834-1911
Music: William G. Fischer, 1835-1912
I love to tell the story of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story, because I know ’tis true;
It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.
Refrain
I love to tell the story, ’twill be my theme in glory, To tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story; more wonderful it seems
Than all the golden fancies of all our golden dreams.
I love to tell the story, it did so much for me;
And that is just the reason I tell it now to thee.
Refrain
I love to tell the story; ’tis pleasant to repeat
What seems, each time I tell it, more wonderfully sweet.
I love to tell the story, for some have never heard
The message of salvation from God’s own holy Word.
Refrain
I love to tell the story, for those who know it best Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. And when, in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song, ’Twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long.
Refrain
I have just spoken with a lovely Asian woman who here for a luncheon who used to work with us here at school. She said she was taking care of her aged mother-in-law who is now, blind and almost totally deaf. She said,” When one is dealing with one disability, it is strenuous. But when there are two, blindness and defness, it is a most difficult. I got to thinking that maybe that’s how our Lovely God feels when He tries to communicate with His children who are dim-eyed and deaf to His counselings. It becomes a difficult task when we see but do not see; have ears but do not hear what the Spirit is saying.
Thank God, nothing is too difficult for Him.
Fanny Crosby, the famous blind hymn writer, seemed to see beauty as few can, such as is expressed in this verse of Blessed Assurance where she wrote:
“Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.”
She wrote so prolifically of the Beauty she ‘saw’ and understood, longing to see Beauty Himself one day….”If I had a choice, I would still choose to remain blind…for when I die, the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed Saviour.”
Loving the views on beauty. What an awesome choice Franny Crosby made on her sight. One of many of my favorites is ‘To God Be the Glory’ by Fanny.
Lots of insight into God’s grace and mercy as we read and study the life of Fanny. I read this today, “Crosby was very well known during her time and often met with presidents, generals, and other dignitaries. She played the hymn “Safe in the Arms of Jesus” at President Grant’s Funeral in 1885. In her later years, she also became a popular public speaker.” And, yet another quote ” If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.”
I would think Fanny Crosby did not fall in the pit of seeing but not seeing….
I find the quote by Fanny Crosby, …..”I might not have sung humns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me”……and a thought came to me that might be added…
“AND THE SOUND OF MY OWN VOICE”
As Sara said above “seeing but not seeing” is a pit. And though we have eyes and have them wide open, we may still be ‘blind’.
“If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” Matt 15:14
I am thankful that Jesus has eye salve that we can buy from Him so we can see. (Rev 3:18) And that He did and still does open blind eyes so we can recognize Him and His beauty.
“Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.” Luke 24:31
And, in humor of this quote, when one ages and starts to wear glasses for reading, and then distance and one looks in the mirror without them they just might look pretty good as they do not see every little detail that they might have spent a lot of time looking at, talking about, stressing about when they could see a bit more.
HUM, might be all between the ears but you think you look better and you start to act better. Seems like you have more fun….don’t you think?
Read with me Proverbs 31: 30 “Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.” I’d like to quote the footnotes for verses 10-31 here. “Proverbs has a lot to say about women. How fitting that the book ends with a picture of a woman of strong character, great wisdom, many skills, and great compassion. Some people have the mistaken idea that the ideal woman in the Bible is retiring, servile, and entirely domestic. Not so! This woman is an excellent wife and mother. She is also a manufacturer, importer, manager, realtor, farmer, seamstress, upholsterer, and merchant. Her strength and dignity do not come come from her amazing achievements, however. They are a result of her reverence for God. In our society, where physical appearance counts for so much, it may surprise us to realize that her appearance is never mentioned. Her attractiveness comes entirely from her character. The woman described in this chapter has outstanding abilities. Her family’s social position is high. In fact, she may not be one woman at all–she may be a composite portrait of ideal womanhood. Do not see her as a model to imitate in every detail; your days are not long enough to do everything she does! See her instead as an inspiration to be all you can be. We can’t be just like her, but we can =learn from her industry, integrity, and resourcefulness.”
Sara, you have asked, “what do you see?” In this chapter, I see a woman that “inspires me to be all that I can be”.
When one reads the spiritual DNA of Proverbs 31 as Needles has posted about it sure makes you proud and honored to be a woman. When one walks in this calling it gives contentment, love and passion. I have a friend that I have been friends with for many years and she ( approx.age 60) has just entered the job market. I am hearing such a glee in her voice that I have never heard. She feels so good about herself and it gives her a child like wonder of life once again. She also feels that she can do some things that she has yearned to do for so long but never able to do. I believe this will help her develop her spiritual gift and she will have many opportunities to use her gift in the body of Christ.
Reading about the Proverbs 31 woman and the friend entering the job market reminded me of Lydia, a successful business woman from Thyatira, mentioned in Acts 16:14. She was a seller of purple who had her heart opened by the Lord to respond to the Apostle Paul’s salvation message. After being baptized along with members of her household, she sprang into action and invited Paul, Silas, Luke and Timothy to stay at her home. She put her resources to work to care for God’s servants which in turn furthered the gospel and the growth of the church at Philippi.
Learn about a contemporary Proverbs 31 or a Lydia by visiting Cissie Graham Lynch, Franklin Graham’s daughter and the work they are doing with children on this Heart Project. Maybe God would allow you to be a part of this project in some way.
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/ChildrensHeart/index/
Thanks for the website Sara….what a great project! I hope all the readers visit …it is inspiring and ties right in with your latest blog “Wit-ting-with the Lilies-Samaritan” June 11th, 2009.
As Needles quoted above from Proverbs , “Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last”…no lasting beauty of flowers….they fade; of sunsets…they turn to darkness; of snowflakes…they melt; of buidings…they deteriorate…and on and on.
But how encouraging to think upon I Peter 1:24,25:
“For, ‘All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord stands forever.’
And this is the word that was preached to you.”
Debi this reminds me of when my Mom was close to death. Her eyesight for the things of earth had dimmed and she began to focus on the beauty of heaven. We would watch every pastor as she could not get enough of the Word of the Lord. She would listen to Psalms on tape over and over. One night she said to me, “Rena I want to see Jesus, but I don’t know if I’m good enough or have done enough for him. I asked if she knew Jesus and had asked him in her heart. “She replied of course I have done that. I need to know within me that I’ll see Him. I said Mom in John 10: 9 it says, I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he will be saved, he will come in and out. The WORD is truth so believe that Mom, you are in his fold.
Rena you shared that hymn above with us “I love to tell the story”. It sounds like your mother’s ‘dimming eyesight’ caused a longing for that story about Jesus and His words just as the verse says: “It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.”