Beauty is on the skin. Ugly is to the bone.
Beauty fades away. Ugly stays on.
I heard this first at church Youth Camp
In the only A/C building, we were to enjoy
In that hot East Texas summer of ’67 or ’68.
I’ll learn anything if only the temps are right!
Through the years, I’ve watched.
As people paint their beauty at skin level.
Some had something natural going for them.
Others, well, they must layer it on thickly.
No longer do we see the natural,
But the fakery of false beauty we behold.
If beauty fades away, I say, it’s gone.
Long gone before the fake dries on that outward layer.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder…
Go figure that one out for a while.
Do I want a painted-up mockery?
Or the natural surface-to-bone I see and admire?
The temptress of these modern times
Tell us that you must look the part
And tell us that’s your true best
But I know it’s better to be naturally beautiful.
Clothes don’t make the man…
But it’s not for the desire to dress the part.
Leading men, outfits, personas, and parts,
We think this is how we prove our worth.
If we see with lust-filled eyes and heart
Then the false beauty of this world can be found
But to look deeper than deep, with clarity of vision,
Beauty is layered upon layer of the nature God intended.
You can’t fake beauty, but some think you can layer it on.
True beauty begins in the heart and how you see others
It begins from deep within and layers outward to the skin.
Flawed though the outward may be, true beauty can be seen.
I want to enjoy the natural beauty of this world.
Not the pixelated adjustments, green screen creations,
Or even the layered pigments used on skin.
Keep peeling back the layers; true beauty is found in each.
Psalms 27:1-14 NKJV
A Psalm of David.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.
One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.
For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.
Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the LORD will take care of me.
Teach me Your way, O LORD,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the LORD
In the land of the living.
Wait on the LORD;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the LORD!