You are the reason that we are beautiful

How many women do you know who recognise their own beauty? For me, the answer is very few. Some women are very aware of their outer beauty. That is not what I am talking about.

I have spent some time with the creation story lately. Isn’t it clear? Isn’t it truly marvellous? God’s creation ascended in beauty. It grew more intimate as the days gone by. And then, on the sixth day God looked at the stars and the mountains. He looked at every wave, and he spotted every shimmering firefly. God breathed in every detail. He saw everything – not like we see it. Was it glorious enough? And then He created a woman.

We had a meeting one day, in Syferkuil. It was in the earlier days of EverGrace. We had just launched GraceSpace. The facilitators sat down. Lizzy and I was just about to join them, when a woman cornered me. I didn’t see her coming. “Carmie!” she called to me. Seeing that I didn’t know the women, I was startled at that. I turned to her. She smiled. At me. Her next words, stayed with me. It stuck.

“You are the reason that we are beautiful.”

She stepped back so that I could see her outfit. I quickly put one and two together. She was a customer of Lizzy’s Closet.

I laughed. I gave her a hug. She smiled. I had nothing to do with it, her beauty, that is, but it got me thinking.

She believed that it was the clothes. It was a reality that she could live. It was practical.

She became apart of our team. I grew to love her very much. The more I knew her, the more beautiful her smile became.

One day, I made a video call to our team there. She came running in a few minutes after the call started. She was so excited to see me. I can’t remember what happened, exactly, but she ended up grabbing the phone. She took me outside, to the light, so that I could se her more clearly. She was dressed up all nice for a wedding. She held the phone up high and spun around. She looked so beautiful. The feed was very blurry, but she looked so beautiful.

We had our team meeting. She had to run off. She was already late for the wedding. When I ended the call, I was elated. I was so happy. I remember that I was very anxious that day, before the call.

That day was the second time that we signed with our facilitators. I was a hundred kilometres away.

Lizzy and I discussed the book, Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul, by John and Stasi Eldredge, during our last few Bible Study sessions. John and Stasi talk about the concept of beauty that invites… invites others to acknowledge their beauty… invites joy…

What really hit me, was how different it is to how the world advertises beauty. We see beautiful women in magazines and it takes of our beauty, because whatever beauty we have, it is not as much and as perfect as hers. Beauty that invites…

How precious to witness it? How lucky am I to be one in the crowd, to be invited into joy?

“You are the reason that we are beautiful.”

Very often, people contact me. They want to donate clothing, yarn, toys, toiletries… (and we are beyond thankful) I am lucky enough to see the result of it. People look at me in disbelief when I tell them that it is not about the clothes or yarn or toys. Or at least, that is what I experience. It is about people who are no longer ashamed to be seen. It is about women, no longer afraid to hope and it is about children who grow up to be proud of their community.

I will say it again, how lucky am I to be one in the crowd?