peace . love . joy

I've been meaning to write about this for some time already (before a pretty someone =] did her sharing that Saturday evening during F.I.S.H.). But I wasn't, and am still not, too sure how to approach this, hence the slow action following the conception of thought. How do you talk about "beauty"? So many definitions about it. The world itself has so many that you cannot lump it altogether and say this is what the "world" says and then this is what the Bible says. Not all definitions of "this world" define beauty in its physical terms. But then, how does God define "beauty"? What is "beautiful" to Him?

People always say God looks on the "inside", and that it is the "inside" that counts. The mischievous side of me hollers "God looks at my spleen?!", haha! But the serious, inquisitive shadow of me wants to know what "inside" actually means \ refers to. How is it that God pays much attention to our spirit, our soul, our character, but also pays attention to our physical appearance? You can't deny that God also looks at our "outside". Heck, He knows the number of hairs on our head! So if I say God probably knows the shape of our eyes, the length of our colons, it's probably not impossible nor far off.

I was thinking about something last night in the shower when it hit me. Music.

Think of the music that you listen to. The kind that you yourself enjoy, or like, or even love. To your individual self, that music is beautiful. For example, I love classical European music and opera. Baroque, Classical, Romantic, etc. To me, that is the epitome of perfection achievable on Earth. To me, that genre is beautiful.

Now you cannot physically touch that music you like. Sure you can hold the manuscript, the CD, the thumbdrive, the laptop, but you can't hold the music in your hands. No doubt it is there, you can hear it, it gives you goosebumps, but you can't touch it. It is the tracks on which your roller-coaster of emotions ride, it makes you bop your head (or headbang), sway, jump, but you can't touch it.

The closest you can get to actually touching it, is touching the medium that holds it. The CD, the iPod, the laptop, the manuscript. These mediums all look different, all feel different, and are all presented differently. CD covers and sleeves have different designs, iPods are customisable (you can etch words \ drawings into them, change the color, etc.), same goes for laptops, manuscripts & books have differently designed cover pages, different manners of publishing the notes, etc. They appeal to different people. All are beautiful in their own right.

I think we're like music.

God made the physical body to house the humanly intangible soul & spirit. We sure look different on the "outside". And we are all beautiful in our own right. The roundest, shortest, lankiest, skinniest, flattest, most awkward... God made each one of us. And we are all beautiful in God's eyes simply because He made us. There may be many reasons why God made us physically the way we are. Maybe it is to reach out to that one person who otherwise wouldn't talk to anyone, maybe it is to keep our pride in check, maybe it is to serve as a form of testing, I don't know. But I'm pretty sure how we look like on the "outside" should not distract us from the real beauty of the ball - God. No matter how we pretty or ugly we think we are, it should lead us to God. To Jesus.

God is not just occupied with how we look physically, but also, perhaps more so, how we look on the "inside". Think of our souls, our spirits, as the intangible, invisible, yet magically powerful music itself. Just like how it is the music that is encrypted into the various mediums is the main attraction for us, so our souls, our spirits, our character, those are what God pays extra attention to. How our souls, our spirits shape up, that is true beauty. We can't touch it. But we can definitely witness it in unspeakable powerful magical ways. How much more God who sees the unseeable and touches the untouchable?

A beautiful heart and mind is a powerful thing & tool. They engage and entrance for a far longer period than a beautiful body. They grow sharper and wittier each passing year, while the body dies. As the body fades to dust, the soul and the spirit remain. That is what we are. That is who we are.

While our feathers may be ruffled by how pretty or dashing or cool we look, the clothes we clothe ourselves with, the accessories we accessorise ourselves with, the perfumes we perfume ourselves with, our God looks past the physical beauty into the inner secret heart.

I've met people who just shine. There is no explanation. They simply shine. When I talk to them, while my eyes meet theirs and I see their faces, I don't see their faces. It takes me extra effort to just focus on their physical bodies and they look pretty normal, nothing exceptionally fantastic. But when I talk to them, when I watch them move, I see a stunningly beautiful person. I can't explain it. It's like their hearts and minds outshine their bodies...

How are you adorning your soul?

"Do not let your adorning be external - the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing - but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious."

~ 1 Peter 3:3-4