Beauty according to the ‘Chambers Everyday Dictionary’, is a pleasing combination of qualities that give delight to the mind and senses. Beauty can also be defined as excellence. Excellence is a high degree of good qualities.

Beauty by the world’s standards is purely superficial. It is about what the eye can see, what the hand can touch. Beauty is usually defined according to standards set by glamour magazines, movie stars, beauty pageants, clothes designers, run-way models and so on. This kind of beauty is self-indulgent. It promotes self and luxuriates self. This most times generates feelings of self-conciousness, insecurities and the likes. It promotes cravings like ‘the enlargement’ of this, ‘a reduction’ of that, a ‘bleaching’ of something’, a ‘lightening of another’.

Beauty of form and feature will fade. Physical beauty is ephemeral, it does not last. It exists only on the surface and has no depth. Physical beauty is external, it is like a flower, it fades away. External beauty can be deceptive and unreliable. It is only a cover.

On the other hand, true beauty comes from within. The beauty that comes from within radiates from the inside to the outside. This beauty has substance and it is more reliable. True beauty generates from integrity of heart and from strength of character. True beauty generates from virtues that are built from within the inner-self. True beauty flows from inner cleanliness and purity. True beauty is attractive to the mind, to the senses and to the spirit. This beauty is alluring and irresistible. It radiates and over-shadows all physical inadequacies, shortcomings and blemishes.

True beauty is about what comes out of you. It is about how you relate to others, how you affect situations. How do you think? Are your thoughts negative, condemning and malicious? How do you talk? Is your speech abusive, insulting, rude? How do you behave? Is your attitude selfish, manipulative, indecent? There are many who seem beautiful outwardly, but they are not so at all inside.

Ugliness like beauty, is from within the heart. A person is ugly not because of physical, external features, but because of the things that come from within him; the thoughts he thinks, the words he utters, the character he manifests. There are no ugly physical features, there are only ugly hearts, ugly temperaments.

A person out of the ugliness deposited within, exudes ugliness. A person out of the beauty stored and deposited on the inside, emanates and radiates beauty. Queen Vashti of Persia, was a very beautiful woman outwardly, but she had pride, vanity and haughtiness in her heart. This translates as a very ugly person: Esther1:10-12.

The emphasis should not be on outward appearances, not on outward decoration. (This is not to say we should be unkempt, slothful or dirty). The emphasis should be on building the inner man, building character, building inner attributes that give quality of character.

True beauty is from God. God is ‘Beauty’ personified. His nature is beauty. We can see God’s beauty displayed in all of creation. God desires us to be beautiful. He wants us to be a part of His beauty, so we can have beautiful lives and add beauty wherever we go.

What is your heart filled with? What are the things you think on? What do you speak and act out? How do you affect your environment? Negatively or positively? Make a conscious effort from today to be a truly beautiful person. Think and meditate on positive things. Speak peaceful and pleasant words. Reach out in love, patience and encouragement.

Remember, beauty of form and feature will fade, but the beauty that is from within radiates to the outside to give a lingering unforgettable and everlasting effect.

Stay Beautiful! – KJO