Beauty, part two

A children’s book entitled “The Beautiful Princess Without a Face” written by April, Jay, and Celeste Robins speaks to the issue of real beauty. The book tells the story of Sarah, a young girl concerned with her appearance. “Fascinated by the gorgeous beauty queen riding on a float during a New Year’s Day Parade, Sarah begins to wonder if she too is beautiful. She drifts off into a dreamlike state across Moonbeams to Doll Land, where she relives a folktale as a beautiful Native American doll named Princess-Loves-the-Pond. Princess-loves-the-Pond is obsessed with being beautiful. She is so concerned with her own appearance, that she totally ignores the beauty surrounding her in Doll Land: Princess-loves-the-Pond always asked the pond, ‘Am I beautiful?” The pond always replied, ‘Yes, my Princess. One day the princess bent over to see her reflection. She slipped on a stone and fell into the pond. A gush of water washed away her delicate face. She no longer had eyes, ears, nose or a mouth. Without a face, the princess is only left with the ability to feel. She realizes more and more what she can no longer see, hear, taste, or smell. She realizes that there is a beautiful world around her.

We need to do the same. As God works to restore creation, we need him to restore some of us. We need to have our eyes renewed and see the beauty all around us. We need to have him wipe away the cynicism from our heart and give us a heart of joy. We need him to close our ears to criticism and give us ears that hear the sound of beauty. Imagine a world where we strived to create beauty instead of working to destroy it. Today we can have hope for such a world because God has invited us into the beauty of His holiness.