Stay Beautiful...

I was on my way to the factory and just around the corner was an empty plot of land. The industrial layout is a water logged area, thus the empty land had become a pond (for lack of a proper word to describe it) due to the regular heavy rains… the water is disgusting and unpleasant to look at, it is all murky and I can just imagine the snakes and all things slimy in it.
In all that, I saw something that left me in awe… Out of the ugliness and disgusting nature of it, I noticed beautiful white flowers emerged from the waters, spread out sparingly across the flooded land. From all that dirt, something beautiful and so white could come out. Beauty chose to stand out, pure and graceful in the midst of ugly. Giving me a reason to stop and stare.

When you’re in the murky waters, you’ll have disdain for what seems different from the norm. If you choose to be beautiful in a world where ugly is the cool factor, you’ll be left out and made to feel unwelcome, you will be pushed to mar your face just to blend in and be loved. Because when all around is ugly, beauty is a sore sight to the eyes.

The world has chosen a path so different from God’s way, and the ‘wise’ have gone with the flow of it all, accepting the unacceptable, reinventing the rules, and replacing right with wrong, compromising on things we feel we can’t adhere to. It doesn’t mean we’ve stopped believing in God. No, we’re more God crazy than ever, it’s just that this time, we make the rules and we want Him to conform to our standard.
When you refuse to think in this new world order, you stick out like a sore thumb. The beauty of your decision to stand true to the ways of the ‘Ancient of days’(the same yesterday, today and forever), makes you the ugly one in the world, not because they don’t know it’s the truth, but because they know how right you are and are mad at you for not being a part of the facade, because this thing you choose to do feels impossible. Maybe if everyone would just ignore the old way, God will be pressured to go our way.
                   
The beauty that stands out is hated. But relax, It doesn’t matter what those around you think, you may not see the rationality in your stance… but choose to remain beautiful. Because like this picture, when God looks down at a world that has been wrecked with the ugliness of disdain for Him, He sees your beauty standing out, and the sight of you, like that beautiful flower in the picture is a salve to the pain the decay He sees causes Him.

Stand for what is true. Keep holding on. Your friends may hate you for your faith and call you names in playful (and not so playful) jabs but don’t compromise on your faith to blend in(remember you were born to stand out).
Don’t be all holy in church and a freak in the streets, just because you’re desperate for acceptance… don’t have street cred with homies and holy swag with the pastors.
When you’re all about Him and all about them… your petals begin to fall off with each compromise, and it’s only a matter of time before all your petals are off and you’re just a stalk of nothing, waiting to fade into ugliness.
"My deep satisfaction from my commitment to Jesus is constantly challenged by other believers. They treat me like some kind of Neanderthal, definitely out of step with today's woman." Lady In Waiting.
God is saying, “Hold On”

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

Keep standing out. Keep being the ‘kill joy’. Keep being too hot to be in the cold gathering of your peers. Keep being a snub to the trends and opinions that the world has laid out for you… don't grow weary.
God sees you, He loves you and in due season you will reap your harvest.
Best of all, you are beautiful in His sight, and remember just how glad He is when He sees your beauty from way up there.

'So come' by Israel & The new breed is one of my favorite songs, i think it's near perfect for this post...


you have taken the precious from the worthless
and given us beauty for ashes, love for hate
you have chosen the weak things of the world
to shame that which is strong
and the foolish things to shame the wise
you are help to the helpless
strenght to the stranger
and a father to the child thats left alone
you invited the thirsty to come to the water
and those who have no money come and buy

so come
come, so come

behold the days are coming
for the lord has promised
when the plowman will over take the reaper
and our hearts will be the threshing floor
and the move of God we cried out for will come
surely come, oh God
and you will shake the heavens and fill your house with glory
turn the shame of the outcast into praise
now all creation groans and waits 
for the spirit and the bride to say
the words that your heart has longed to hear

Comments

  1. Wow beautiful...Thanks for sharing..We cant pressure God to accept our standard but we can get His approval when we accept His standards regardless of what society says...

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    1. Not an easy task, but definitely worth it in the end :)

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  2. Inspirational article. Clear indication of exactly how God washes us from the 'murkiness' of the world and make us into His spotless bride. Blessings!

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    Replies
    1. Thats an exciting thought... Thank God for His grace, that chooses to see us as He wants us to look despite where we've been.

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  3. Truly inspiring, I needed to read something like this. May God bless u and us all as we attempt to stay beautiful :)

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  4. Powerful and lovely pictures...

    brings to mind the story of the isrealites in Egypt who prospered in the land of goshen. They were living in the land of the people who would become their enemy but prospered nevertheless and left the place richer!

    despite the dirty water, the lovely flower flourished...when others are saying there is a casting down, God's children will experience a lifting up...

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    Replies
    1. You're so spot on with the story of the Israelites... Indeed there is a lifting :)

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