lunchtime ramblings...

I am sitting at a Pizza Hut in a town I do some of my marketing. I only come to this town once a month or so, as it is one of the furthest corners of my territory and I spend a day driving to make just a few calls. I always enjoy coming to places where I don't know people, it makes for interesting people watching.

Confession time.

I often times fall victim to the sinfulness of vain thoughts. Too frequently, I get caught up in what my eyes reveal to me; more often than not it is negative observations. For example, just now, I glanced at a couple who walked in the door and was instantly drawn to the excessive amount of hair on the gentleman's shoulders. I am the person who notices body weight, acne, bad hair days and poor clothing choices. I am not proud of this trait. Many times throughout my life I have been taught that a person's beauty is not seen through the eyes, but I never have been able to successfully look at someone without seeing the imperfections of their physical beauty. This is something God has been working on me with lately.

As I was looking at this gentleman and his shoulder-hair, I was convicted. It was pressed very strongly in my heart that God designed that man and his hairy shoulders with as much care and precision as he designed me and my freckles and curly hair. All of creation has been designed by the meticulous hand of God, who am I to question the beauty of something just because my feeble mind cannot fully comprehend God in all His glory? Who am I to deem God's creation unattractive just because I do not find it aesthetically appealing? Some people find freckles and curly hair unattractive, does this mean I am not beautifully made by the hand of God? No.

I suppose all these years I have been wrong. I knew it wasn't about looking at the exterior (even though I still did,) but thought it was about looking at what was on the "inside." That was also the wrong view. My eyes should have been focused on God; when I look at the world and the people of it through the lenses of His love and mercy, I can clearly see the beauty in all the works of His hand.