Beautiful
You may have heard Christina Aguilera's most recent single entitled "Beautiful." In the song Christina tries to illustrate that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. But what she is really trying to say about being beautiful?
You are beautiful, no matter what they say
Words can't bring you down
'Cause you are beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring me down
So don't you bring me down today.
When we were children we would hear "sticks a stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me" -- but we know that isn't really true. Words can truly hurt. People can be forever hurt by painful words.
I
am reminded of a story about a woman who was dealing with something that
happened many years ago. She was attending a school, which happened to
be a "one room school house." One day she was late coming in
from recess. The teacher began to yell at her and told the other children
to come forward and help her to teach Diane a lesson. This teacher had
each and every one of the children write a negative statement about Diane.
They wrote on the chalkboard statements like: Diane is stupid; Diane is
dumb; Diane is fat; Diane is selfish. This went on until everyone one
of the twenty-five students had made a mean and nasty statement about
Diane.
Diane lived with this day forever imprinted on her mind. Not a day went by that she didn't recall that horrific event. Diane, over those 35 years, had actually become what those students had written. She began to believe what they said about her.
No matter what we do
No matter what we say
We're the song inside the tune, full of beautiful mistakes
And everywhere we go, the sun will always shine
And tomorrow we might awake on the other side
Just think for a moment how powerful the spoken word can be. Words that we choose can either build people up or tear them down. There is that much power in the words we choose.
When it comes to beauty, many of us have our own opinion as to what we find attractive -- we all have our own ideas as to what we like. Some of us are attracted to eyes, teeth, body or other physical features; some of us are able to go beyond the outward appearance to find humor, compassion, faith and love.
If the truth be told, most of us are probably somewhere in the middle. We are initially attracted to physical features, but then notice other traits or qualities within a particular person. This is one reason why we are not God!
God is able to see the real beauty of a person. God has fallen in love with you -- even before you were in your mother's womb. This is a different kind of love. God's love is based on us just existing and simply being. God's love is not earned by what we do but rather because we are part of the human family and His creation. Someone once said, "God doesn't make junk -- therefore we are loved."
To all your friends you're delirious
So consumed in all your doom
Trying hard to fill the emptiness, the pieces gone,
Left the puzzle undone, is that the way it is
Remember Diane? Having lived years of sadness and depression she sought help through counseling. After three years of weekly therapy, it had come time for her last appointment. Her counselor told Diane she would like to make sure she was all right, so she wanted her to go back to that day in her school thirty-five years ago. She wanted her to recall that day in the classroom. Diane thought since the memory was etched in her mind it would be easy, but it could be painful. She began to recall the students one by one. She described each one vividly -- remembering every detail.
Finally, she was done, and the tears would not stop. Diane was crying uncontrollably -- she began to hear her name over and over again "Diane. Diane. Diane." She looked up to see her counselor staring at her repeating her name over and over again.
"Diane. You ... you left out one person."
I certainly did not! I have lived with this story for over 35 years. I remember everyone by heart.
"No, Diane, you did forget someone. See ... he's sitting in the back of the classroom. He's standing up, walking towards your teacher. She is handing him a piece of chalk, and he's taking it, Diane, he's taking it! He's walking over to the blackboard and picking up an eraser. He is erasing every one of the sentences the students wrote. They are gone! They are all gone! Now he's turning and looking at you. Do you recognize him yet? Yes, his name is Jesus. Look, he is writing new sentences on the board. Diane is loved. Diane is beautiful. Diane is gentle and kind. Diane is strong. Diane has great courage."
Soon, Diane's weeping turned into a smile, and then into laughter, and then into tears of joy. It took Diane thirty-five years to see beauty from the view of the holy. To see the way God sees each and everyone one of us!
So maybe we can understand the power of the words we use and see that all of the things we use to determine beauty just aren't important to God and shouldn't be important to us. "You are beautiful, no matter what they say."
The story of Diane is adapted from a story by Ron Lee Davis. Mistreated, by Ron Lee Davis (Portland, Oregon: Multnomah Press, 1989), pp 85-86.
By Jim Corder
From the Catechism:
The "pure in heart" are promised that they will see God face
to face and be like him. Purity of heart is the precondition of the vision
of God. Even now it enables us to see according to God, to accept others
as "neighbors"; it lets us perceive the human body-ours and
our neighbor's-as a temple of the Holy Spirit, a manifestation of divine
beauty. (CCC
2519)
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