to ponder

I feel like sometimes in our reaching for outer beauty, we miss or forget the beautification of our hearts.

There's more to beauty than what we can see.

I always make time to get my outsides ready before I go anywhere in the morning. I shower. I iron my clothes and change out of my pj's. I fix my hair and do my makeup. I feed my growling stomach.

But I don't always make time to get ready inside, and to let Jesus prepare my heart.

Just something I'm thinking about.

These words, I love. I have some parts...the bold ones...stuck to the inside of my bathroom cabinet, where I can read and ponder them often.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives and the passion that she shows.

The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.

--Sam Levenson, often quoted by Audrey Hepburn. Emphasis mine.