Pointing Out the Beautiful

She likes it when I tell her she's beautiful. The smile she tries to suppress and the pink in her cheeks confirms it, yet I sense as much as she wants it to be true, she doubts it. She simply can't see it in herself.

None of us do really. We don't recognize the good, the lovely, the beautiful we carry. We dismiss the comments of others as kind, but misguided. If they only knew who we really were . . .

What would it take for us to believe them?

It's easy to look at others and recognize fantastic qualities, beauty, insight, passion, multitudes of enviable characteristics. Why do we think everyone has them except us?

When I say it, I mean it. I'm not blowing sunshine up anyone's skirt. Why do I assume others are just being nice if they say something to me?

If we tell each other often enough, will we eventually believe? If we continually point out the beautiful, will it sink in one day? Do we have a responsibility to utter aloud what we see? Do we need to do it often and consistently and every single time we see it? Is this part of building each other up?

Is this love?

Though she's embarrassed when I tell her she's beautiful, I see her head rise, her countenance brighten, her spirit lift. And I wonder if she believed it, even for a short time, how might she let God use her?

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

Hebrews 3:13

Encourage one another daily. Point out the beautiful. Say something when you see it, every time you see it. If we did, what might we enable each other to do?



Photo Credit: niiicedave