Common Thread

I started working on Belle recently, and I was surprised by how many colors I use for her that I also used for Beast. From Dark Red-Brown to Medium Gold, it just goes to show that no matter how different we think we are, there are things that we all have in common, that bind us together.

In the story of Beauty and the Beast, the natural tendency is to think of Belle as "the Beauty," but I was reminded of what the enchantress told Beast when he was cursed: "Do not be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within." Really, the story is about discovering the beauty inside the beast. As Belle got to know the Beast, she began to see that inner beauty, through the ways he showed kindness and gentleness toward her, and in the ways he fought for her and protected her.

I was thinking about how (contrary to the handsome actors who typically play him in movies) Jesus wasn't a beauty. Isaiah said that "he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not" (Is. 53:2-3). Thing is, He is God, so he really could have picked any human shell he wanted to, right? He could have looked like Hercules or even Jim Caviezel if he had wanted to! But I think he chose to look average-to-ugly (or less than desirable) to be even more like us (Phil. 2:6-7)... to give us more common thread to relate to and feel in some way connected with him. I'm so thankful he stooped so low, not just in his life but abundantly more so in his death...

This week before Easter, as I reflect on the cross and all the bloody, gory, horrific realities it represents, I am overcome with thankfulness... because I know that Jesus died so I could be forgiven and restored. He may not have been a pretty face, but to those of us who have met him - who have been saved and redeemed and changed forever by him - he is the most beautiful person in the universe.


Listening to: How Beautiful, by Twila Paris