Short Thought continued.....

Cultivating that Glow

 

I realise that a lot of my recent frustration comes from the fact that

I do not like what I have been seeing in the mirror!

 

I hate being so superficial and vain, yet I have to admit that what my exterior presents has an effect on me.  I look and I see someone different to whom I used to see,

know, like and feel comfortable with.  I see a 'me' that I do not recognise. 

My hair has rebelled and is doing its own thing; my skin is definitely not as youthful and taut as it used to be as new lines keep appearing uninvited!  I know the

rightful response would be to not favour appearance over what is inside, for

 

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at.

People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

(1 Samuel 16:7 NIV)

 

I know this should not matter and that there are many more important things

to be focusing on.  Yet, I have to admit that it does matter to me.

I do not like the person I now see.

 

So where does that leave me?

 

Well, with a sense of frustration and agitation.  I have oscillated between not seeing

my outer shell as important and, frankly, sometimes letting myself go, and seeing it as something to be proud of, look after and value, but then becoming too focused on it.

Therefore, I can either keep refusing what I see and desperately try and recapture something I recognise from my past, ignore it and maintain a sense of agitation

and unease, or I can accept, learn to love and appreciate the current me.

I can then let go and embrace, accept and work with the changes and

in the process understand more fully what it means to

 

“be transformed into his image with ever increasing glory”

(2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV)

 

I want to be grateful for what has been but even more, I want to get to my twilight years still shimmering and shining with the joy of loving the person I see changing.

I want to cultivate a glow that says

“Yes! I can radiate from the inside and it show on my face!”

 

I am sure we have all met people from whom emanates a beautiful youthful godly glow and whose eyes sparkle and twinkle, even though they are in an ageing body.

 

That is what I want to aim for and cultivate as I learn to get to know,

accept, feel comfortable with and like this changing person I see in the mirror.

My desire is to let God do the work that is needed on the inside in order for it to show on the outside.  I have no idea what that journey looks like but I want to go on it even if fear of what I might be accepting and what might be, sometimes overtakes me.

 

What glow do you want to cultivate?

Who are you becoming?

 

“Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of His face.

And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like Him.”

(2 Corinthians 3:18 The Message)

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