Many years ago when I was attending a church conference in Chicago, I heard Dan Allender, author of To Be Told, ask the question, “Where are you beautiful?” He said that each one of us is made in the image of God and then re-shaped in His image at the death of Christ. When we grow as believers, we become more and more beautiful before God and others.
A few weeks ago, my precious 98-year-old mother, “Hatsy,” left her earthly home. Throughout her life, she revealed the incredible beauty of God through her unconditional love for me and everyone she met. Whenever we asked for her opinion, she would always offer supportive suggestions. But she was never judgmental. No matter the choices that her family members or others made, she neither condemned or shamed. She just loved.
During my mother’s funeral, we read the love verses from 1st Corinthians. My mother was patient and kind. She kept no record of wrongs nor did she delight in evil. While she lived her life with just the right amount of tension between grace and truth, we all knew that she rejoiced in the truth. She was firm in her ideas but tender with people. She lived her life fully with the beauty of love.
While I don’t myself naturally live out the beauty of unconditional love as my mother did, the beauty of God that I do reveal is in my attention to detail. One of my friends reveals God’s beauty in the way she gives gifts that are thoughtful and generous. My son reveals God to me through the beauty of laughter. I hope today you will take time to reflect on God’s beauty in you and in those around you.