Be Still And Know

1 Samuel 16:7 NLT    But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”    What is beauty to you? We don’t agree on what constitutes physical beauty. This reflects God’s own estimation that beauty is more than skin deep: it is located within a person’s hidden depths. Our eyes need opening to find God’s beauty in someone, while the Holy Spirit invites us to collaborate and nurture our inner beauty.   God has slowly opened my eyes to determining beauty. It’s not based upon any criteria I’d assumed. External beauty is, of course, attractive, not just physical beauty but that of art, literature, music, in fact across all of culture. Yet, God’s words to Samuel still resonate today: don’t judge a book by its cover. I am invited to take time, to perceive and discover the hidden beauty, the God seed, that’s so often overlooked. The shame of it is that ind