This past week was beauty week in North Hall. We take the week to focus on inward beauty rather than outward beauty.
1 Samuel 16:7 says "For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
Our society has really screwed up our perception of beauty. Like seriously screwed it up. It makes me angry just to think about it. We all know what our society sees as beautiful. It is pointless for me to make a list. However, how often do we focus on what the Lord sees as beautiful?
1 Peter 3:3-4 says “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 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.”
Throughout the week there are different reminders and challenges. On Monday we were challenged to focus our thoughts. As women we have ridiculous amount of negative body thoughts every day. Again I think this is caused a lot by our society’s perception of beauty that we all strive to live up to (which is impossible). On Tuesday we focused on what is considered beautiful in other cultures. On Wednesday every girl was challenged to wear jeans, a white, t-shirt, and no make-up. I think that this is such a great challenge. So often we hide behind our creative outfits and layers of make-up. However, I think that not wearing those things really focuses on the imperishable beauty that each woman holds. On Thursday we had a challenge to wear a rubber band on our wrist. Each time that we gave someone a compliment on outward appearance we switched the rubber band to the other wrist. I was shocked by how often I compliment other people on outward appearances. I am not a high fashion person…so it really surprised me. I then would try to follow those compliments up with compliments that were deeper and focused on the person’s character and inner beauty. Friday we focused our thoughts on the Proverbs 31 woman.
Overall, the week was great. I along with some of my fellow RA’s decided to go without make-up for the whole week. It was quite a challenge. I was amazed by how often I felt the need to apologize for not wearing make-up, or explain myself. It’s just me? There is nothing wrong with that. Another huge take away from the week was the difference between telling someone “You look beautiful” and saying “You are beautiful”.
Focus on your inward beauty. Focus on others inward beauty. Lets continue to redefine beauty.
