Fleeting Beauty

Last Tuesday, I got an early morning shock. When I glanced in the bathroom mirror, my left eye looked like I’d been in a fight with Mike Tyson and he won! What was going on? I couldn’t believe it. When I went to bed, my eye was fine. A few hours later, it was half open and I was severely swollen from below my eyebrow to below the eye. For a quick moment, I was scared. Was this permanent? What caused it?   So many thoughts ran through my mind in a matter of seconds such as, I don’t control anything. Life is uncertain. Something can happen in a matter or seconds to totally change the course of your life. All is fleeting. 

I also thought about the price we put on outward beauty. Women can be obsessed about how to stop the aging process. Our identity and self worth can be based on our looks. I thought of what Proverbs 31:30 says, “Charm is deceitful and beauty does not last, but the woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.”

As I gazed at how disfigured I looked, I wondered how would people respond to me? Would I sense rejection by a quick glance and then a look the other way? I was becoming more self conscious. I thought of all the people who are born with a physical impairment.  How are they treated on a daily basis? How do I respond? With love and acceptance, or do I withdraw? God made them as He made me.  I vowed (with God’s help) to have a greater sensitivity to other people , no matter their stage or station in life.

If we are born beautiful, we had nothing to do with that. If we were born with an impairment, we had nothing to do with that. Everyone can bring glory to God, the Creator of all.

I got an appointment with my ophthalmologist. He diagnosed the problem and gave me two prescriptions. He told me it would take a couple of days for the swelling to dissipate. He was right.

I look like my old self again, but I’ve gained a new perspective on beauty.

Expecting great things of God,

Cheryl