What, Me Worry?

Everywhere I went yesterday, people kept telling me how great I looked. I was getting compliments on my hair and my skin, my necklace, my general appearance. I ran into a woman who had been in one of my classes a year and a half ago, and she said, “You look wonderful! Your skin looks beautiful!” I even had someone tell me I looked like a famous model. It was making me laugh because it went on all day, and I've been dealing with so much stress that I haven't been feeling particularly good, and I know I don’t do anything in particular. I used to get my hair cut by a long hair care specialist, but that was back in the days when I had extra money to spend, or if I didn’t I used my credit cards. Now that I’m paying off my debt and I’m trying to be a good steward with my money, I don’t get my hair cut by anyone any more. I’ve started to trim it myself and it seems to work just fine, especially when I hear the rave reviews I was getting yesterday. Back in those BC days – the days Before Christ – I used to spend money on expensive skin care and cosmetics. I never wore much make up, but when I did, it was always Chanel. It's still my favorite, but their prices have gone even higher than when I used to buy them, so I’ve started shopping at my local CVS and using the products they sell when they go on sale. Even the more expensive ones are a fraction of the Chanel prices, and I always use my coupons and buy one get one 50% off promotions and all the rewards programs I can figure out. I thought that maybe I was missing out on great skin care and settling for less, but not when I hear the comments like I heard yesterday. The necklace I got so many compliments on came from a thrift store – one of many that the Lord has directed me to. He’ll do things like that – take care of the beauty outside too, while He helps us get cleaned up on the inside.

As I wrote this I started thinking about Proverbs 31, “A Virtuous Wife,” in some translations, or “The Wife Of Noble Character” in others, and verses 30 and 31, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works praise her at the city gate.” And I was also thinking about another passage that I couldn’t remember where it was, and so I started to search for it. It had something to do with not dressing in fine clothing and pearls, but letting the beauty come from within, but I couldn’t remember exactly how it went, but I thought it might have been from one of the books that John wrote, so I started to search for “John beautiful woman,” and in the wonder that is technology, I started to find some wonderful things. I came across this website with Bible verses about beauty for women, http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/20-beautiful-bible-verses-for-women/, and on it there is a really great song by Natalie Grant, “Something Beautiful.” The chorus of that song has this, “The life you’ve been living, the days you’ve been given were made for something beautiful. Life – don’t let it pass you by, because you were created for something beautiful.”

I kept looking for the verse I was thinking of but couldn’t find it. I did find 1 Timothy 2:9-10, “And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing, and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do.” That was almost what I was looking for, but not quite. There is a verse – and I’m going to keep looking for it and will let you know when I find it – that talks about the quiet beauty of a woman that glows from within. It is that kind of beauty that the Spirit of God can bring, even when we don’t even know it’s there, and often in the midst of a trial.

That was another reason why I kept laughing yesterday at all the compliments. There are so many things that are heavy on my mind and heart, and I have been feeling their weight in ways that keep me feeling anything but light and glowing. The Lord kept telling me yesterday to just let them be – that He would deal with them when and how they needed to be dealt with, but still the burden lingered. I do trust Him, and know that He will take me through this time and when I get to where He is taking me I will wonder why I didn’t trust Him more. But even knowing that, the burden still lingers on my heart and in my mind, and it’s been hard to shake it off and leave it with Him. So to hear that I was glowing with health, that my skin and hair and my very self looked terrific, was something that made no sense to me. How can I be looking great when I’m not feeling that way at all? But that is the power of God to sustain us and keep us – when we are weak, He is strong, and His strength and glory is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

I can’t say that I would not wish that all the strife and struggle were gone – I wish them gone with all my heart and pray for the release every day. But He is showing me in every way that in the midst of the trial, He is there more fully than ever before. The more of the burden I feel, the more He shines His glory on me. If I could just get my mind and heart in line with what He is shining on me, I’d feel as good as I look. And maybe that’s what He’s trying to tell me with all of these compliments I heard all day long – if I can look good without feeling it, then maybe I can feel as good as I look. It’s really just another choice to make – to feel good or not. He’s always going to come through, because He always has and always will. Jesus asks us in Matthew 6:27, “Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?” And He, as always, is exactly right. I remember the old Mad Magazine cover, with Alfred E. Neuman saying, “What, Me Worry?” And as silly and irreverent as that magazine was, I think now that message is an important one to live by.

Blessings,

Jannie Susan