Someone once told me that, "Beauty runs deep with you." That amazing compliment means even more to me now after reading Sister Dalton's quote in the Ensign this month. As soon as I read the quote from Sister Dalton I immediately thought of the compliment I had received.
Elaine S. Dalton, former Young Women general president said, "...I learned about what I now call “deep beauty”—the kind of beauty that shines from the inside out. It is the kind of beauty that cannot be painted on, surgically created, or purchased. It is the kind of beauty that doesn't wash off. ...Deep beauty springs from virtue. It is the beauty of being chaste and morally clean. ...It is a beauty that is earned through faith, repentance, and honoring covenants.
... When you are virtuous, chaste, and morally clean, your inner beauty glows in your eyes and in your face. My grandfather used to say, “If you live close to God and His infinite grace—you won’t have to tell, it will show in your face.” When you are worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost, you are confident and your inner beauty shines brightly." -- Elaine S. Dalton, Young Women General President, "Remember Who You Are!", May 2010 Ensign
Of course every woman wants to hear that she is beautiful -- but even more meaningful than that is to have others recognize your "deep beauty" which radiates from within. For others to be able to see the beauty that comes from living righteously. That is the ultimate compliment in my opinion.I think I mentioned this during my mission blog posts but I'll mention it again here since it pertains to this topic. One day, during my mission, while my companion and I were out tracting, I was doing the door approach. The lady who opened the door pointed out that I "looked wholesome" or something to that effect. I took that as the highest of compliments.
It really is true that when you are striving to live a moral, righteous, Christlike life -- you're literally more physically beautiful. Your eyes sparkle as you radiate the light of Christ.
People can be physically beautiful by world standards yet appear ugly because of their lifestyle choices. Their eyes are dark and they are much less attractive because they don't have the confidence and inner beauty that only comes through, "faith, repentance, and honoring covenants."
As was so graciously pointed out to me -- my "beauty runs deep" despite my physical changes. It's nice to know that others can see the beauty that comes from striving to live righteously. It really does show in your countenance as you radiate confidence and "deep beauty" by striving to live the gospel.
Superior genetics don't hurt either.
Ting.That's my two cents.
This is why people are drawn to those who "radiate" the Spirit through righteous living. Mercedes had a stranger working behind the McDonalds counter tell her that she could tell she has "the light of Christ" and some other high complimentary things. People often say things like, "You have a glow about you."
ReplyDeleteThere is a video about Deep Beauty from Sister Dalton's original talk on LDS.org. It's a good one.
I had to smile and laugh at your last sentence. :) Ting!