After a time, the door to the waiting room opens and an old man walks out. "There you are," says the beautiful woman to her octegenarian husband, roughly the same age as she. Hand in hand, they walk out of the office and to their car.
And I am reminded me that beauty is very simply our way of reflecting Diving beauty and not limited by years or age.
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Thanks for that lovely post. What a good reminder that beauty is such a gift.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written Jonny. I really enjoyed those thoughts. You're absolutely right, true beauty is a reflection of God and a reflection of what's on the inside of a person. That's the true beauty that lasts--in good and bad, through 50 years of marriage.
ReplyDeleteDid you get a picture of her with the flat cousins?
ReplyDeleteI know this is an awfly long comment, but I though it followed nicely. It's from a friend of ours who was at a Veritas forum at Harvard:
ReplyDelete"Last Friday I was at the CURE hospital in Mbale, Uganda. I have been there many, many times and I have seen hundred and hundreds of kids who have various kinds of needs, problems and disabilities. The hospital is essentially a neurosurgical facility and so there are children with spina bifida, brain tumors etc. However, far and away most of the children who come to that hospital have hydrocephalus. If they come after a month or two of birth their heads are usually not that big and the prognosis can be fairly positive. If they wait a year or two—or more—it’s very grim.
I have to admit that over the years I have been visiting it has been very difficult to even look at—much less embrace—the most severe of these cases/children. In all honesty I have found them distorted, grotesque and hard to look at. It’s a bit difficult for me to admit that but it’s the case and I am sure I am not the only one.
Last Friday as I was leaving the hospital I saw again a child who I had seen in the ward earlier in the day. This child (not sure if it was a boy or girl) was brought to the hospital at the age of two years. He/she had the biggest and most distorted head I have seen in my visits there. The juxtaposition of that head on that small body was somewhat overwhelming. When I was in the ward and saw the child I found myself looking away and not able to look back.
However, as I was leaving the hospital I saw the child sitting on his/her mother’s lap outside the X-ray room. The mother had dealt with this for two years. She had probably been told by family, community and witch doctors that she and her family were cursed because of having such a child. She had no doubt been counseled to take the child’s life. She certainly had been ridiculed over and over again.
And there she sat with him/her on her lap. She was breast feeding. It was difficult to do because of the size of the child, the size of the head and her attempt to make this work as she had hundreds of times before.
She was just sitting there doing what she has done so many times for so many days. It was natural and normal to her. The picture I saw, however, was one of love, compassion and grace. I don’t know what was in her mind but I am guessing she thought her child was beautiful. In fact as I saw that ‘picture’ I thought her child was beautiful. I couldn’t take my eyes off the child or the mother. All of a sudden that child’s ‘beauty’ came through to me for the very first time. Obviously it had something to do with her interaction, her love, her grace, her compassion but it showed me the innate beauty, dignity and character of that child.
I guess there is an obvious similarity in the way God looks at all of us, His children and the way we ought to treat—and look at—each other. At least for me it put the whole issue of ‘beauty’ in a very different context so I am grateful to have been there and grateful for the invitation."