The City that Touches the Sky: Hideous

The wonder of the Gospel is not the love of the beautiful; it’s when Beauty kisses the Beast.
The Beast isn’t loved because he has changed; the Beast is changed when he is loved. Joy doesn’t come when he’s loved for his beauty; joy overwhelms him when he is loved in his hideousness.

~ Sam Williamson

“Beauty” is bombarding me lately. Not in the sense that I’m seeking it out, but that I’m colliding with it. Articles, videos, magazine pictures, interviews, blogposts orbiting this single, two-syllable word. Have you ever experienced something similar? A word or phrase that barges its way into too many conversations for it to be coincidence? It’s like trying to walk through a doorway, only to find that the door has been slammed shut in your face. There’s nothing to do but confront it and twist the doorknob, not sure what you’ll find on the other side.

What I’ve found on the other side is a kaleidoscope of perspectives and visions of what “beauty” means. Some have been secular, some Christian. Some have blamed the issue on the media, and others have blamed mothers or fathers. Some have snubbed the male gender, and others were written by men. Some have said, “Change who you are!”, and others have said, “Don’t change who you are!” Some have focused on makeup, some on fashion models, some on weight loss. All of them have one thing in common: our culture’s desperation for an image of authentic beauty.

I don’t want to be another clanging cymbal on this topic. Rather I want to question why we’re talking about this in the first place.

I’ll be the first to say that I’m glad someone is talking about it. I’m glad that someone is addressing the epidemic of insecurity surrounding “beauty.” I’m glad that someone is finally listening to what makeup aisles at the grocery store are screaming at us. I’m glad that someone is taking an honest look at the mannequins with XS shirts pinned to their bones. I’m glad that someone is showing us photographs of celebrities before the camera crews airbrushed them into perfection.

I’m glad, but I think we’ve lost our focus.

True beauty doesn’t begin when we accept a piece of the kaleidoscope, whether we’re looking into a magazine or a mirror. True beauty doesn’t begin when we accept our inner beauty, as so many well-intentioned people want us to believe. True beauty begins when we accept our hideousness.

Stick with me. I’m not saying let’s form a support group to talk about how ugly we are. But I am saying that if we’re looking for authentic beauty in ourselves, our unedited versions, we won’t find it.

Then why, do you ask, are we fixating on beauty if we don’t have any? And that’s exactly my point. Beauty is a Person. He put the idea into our heads in the first place. We were meant to be reflections of His Beauty, not creators of our own.

My point is, if you don’t know God, you won’t find true beauty.

The only authentic way Beauty can become a part of us is by seeing the Beast. The Beast is, to put it simply, our sin nature. It’s what mars the reflection. It’s what separates us from God. It’s the person we want to keep hidden, at all costs. Once we’ve seen our beastliness, we can more fully see God’s grace. That’s when Beauty comes to life inside of us. That’s when we realize we’re loved in spite of ourselves. That’s when we understand joy. That’s when our transformation begins.

My prayer for this generation of beauty-seekers is that we wouldn’t find it. Not in ourselves, but dependent on the One who defines it. Friends, this world is desperate for Beauty. Let’s live Him out.

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Last week we celebrated the 100th day of school! Here are some beautiful, old biddies from third grade. Here they're making "100-year-old faces."

We've been thinking symmetrically, lately! In Art, the kiddos worked on some beautiful symmetrical artwork. We've also been having fun with symmetry during our Math time.