By Mabel Hale, "Beautiful Girlhood" 1922
"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain; but a woman who
fears the LORD shall be praised!" Proverbs 31:30. Every girl is a lover of
beauty. Beautiful homes, beautiful furnishings, beautiful flowers, beautiful
clothes, beautiful faces--anything wherein beauty is found, there will be found
girls to admire it. From the time her little hands can reach up, and her baby
lips can lisp the words, she is admiring "pretty things." And when a
little of that beauty is her own--her pleasure is unbounded.
Every girl longs to be beautiful. There is in woman a
nature, as deep as humanity, which compels her to strive for good looks. There
is no more forlorn sorrow for a young girl, than for her to be convinced that
she is hopelessly ugly and undesirable. Oh, the bitter tears that have been
shed over freckles, or a rough and pimply skin--and the energy that has been
expended in painting and powdering and waving and curling herself into beauty!
A desire to be beautiful is not unwomanly. But, mark it:
true beauty is not of the face--but of the soul! There is a beauty so deep and
lasting, that it will shine out of the homeliest face and make it lovely! This
is the beauty to be first sought and admired. It is a quality of the mind and
heart--and is manifested in word and deed.
A happy heart, a smiling face, loving words and deeds, and a desire to be of service--will make any girl beautiful! A beautiful soul shining out of a homely face--is far more
attractive than a beautiful face out of which looks a soul full of selfishness
and pride!
Let your chief charm be of heart and mind--not of face and
form. Seek the true beauty which lasts even into old age! Solomon, in one of his wise sayings, expressed plainly the
evil that comes to a woman who is beautiful of face, but lacks the true beauty
of soul: "Like a gold ring in a swine's snout--is a beautiful woman who
shows no discretion!" Proverbs 11:22. As the swine would plunge the golden
jewel into the filth and the mire as he dug in the dirt--so will a pretty woman
who is not godly, drag her beauty down to the very lowest.
There are many peculiar temptations to those who are only
lovely of face. Without true beauty of soul--a pretty face is a dangerous gift! "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment,
such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead,
it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet
spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight!" 1 Peter 3:3-4
Source : http://www.gracegems.org/
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