Pretty Women

The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart.
Helen Keller


We took over the dressing room at Marshalls. The three girls, their three friends and I were each trying on several dresses for Easter. I went first, since I dress the fastest and had the fewest to try on. As I came out of my little temporary cubby (why do the mirrors in those things seem to accuse rather than flatter?), I was greeted with “O, mom, you look great!” “You’re so pretty!” “Mom, I love that dress!” Gratified, in spite of my thickening waist and sagging muscles, I put my own clothes back on and settled in the midst of them to “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” their choices.

They each put on a dress and came out for my inspection. If they didn’t really like it at all, they didn’t even bother showing me. But if they thought it was cute, they were out modeling it for me in the bigger mirror. One by one, the dresses either brought out their beauty or squelched it. Elizabeth looked wonderful in the cream sun dress which accented her red hair. Anneliese looked beautiful in the silk brown and green print…although we needed to find a jacket or something for her bare shoulders; but not in the little black number that clung to every curve. Leilani looked wonderful in the soft browns of her sundress which accented her eyes and hair; but not in short purple number with spaghetti straps. A couple of times, one of them would come out wearing something “hoochie mama!” and we’d all give it a thumbs down. The dress might be pretty, but it accented the wrong kind of beauty.

Deanna found a beautiful green print that made her look taller and slenderer with extra blue eyes. Mikayla found several that would have been pretty, but didn’t do her justice and so she ended up without a dress rather than wear something that cheapened her beauty or made it seem base.

After leaving the store, we visited friends, looked in on my son, Adrian, and went to the movies. Our group of pretty girls made quite a sight going in and out of the mall. I observed, even if the girls didn’t, that heads turned and eyes flashed in our direction as we passed. It made me puff out my chest and lead boldly – proud of my beautiful entourage.

But what made these young ladies so pretty? It wasn’t the jeans and the tennis shoes. It wasn’t the make-up, because they were wearing little to none. When I got to thinking about it, it was the way they walked confidently, smiled and joked with each other, spoke politely to the sales clerks, talked amongst themselves about what they saw in the shop windows and the way that they were totally unaware of the beauty that seemed to envelop them like a cloud.

In so many ways, beauty is intangible. Sometimes the most beautiful of women can shatter that outward mask with a cynical word or sly look. If we think of beauty as something only visible with the human eye, then the adage “beauty is only skin deep” is true. However, if we realize that true beauty is not so much what is visible to the eye, but what is sensed in the soul, we then realize that what is on the outside is only a fraction of the story.

The next day, Deanna was up with me early in the morning giving me her schedule for the day. “After I go feed the horses for Bob, I’m going to go help Irene (the elderly lady next door) with her house work. I don’t want to get a job until I know how much longer she will need me.” Irene had come to me a couple of weeks ago and asked if Deanna would be willing to help her until she moved in with her sister. Deanna had been glad to go over several days a week to clean, help her walk, and exercise some after a back injury. It seems that Deanna is frequently in demand to help someone move, do yard work, dog sit, etc.

Later that day, one of my clients was telling me about Mikayla, who had recently been hired at one of the local restaurants. “She is so cute. She leaves us little notes everywhere,” she told me. “Notes?” I asked. “Yes. She leaves us notes saying ‘thank you’ or ‘I love working with you’ and stuff like that,” she replied. Mikayla is a natural encourager, but I didn’t realize that she would do something so sweet for her co-workers. That night, Mik told me a little about how her work was going and asked me to pray for some of her friends.

My mother used to tell me, ‘Beauty is as beauty does’. I think my daughters are beautiful because of what they do – help others, encourage their friends, pray for one another – even if it takes work or doesn’t yield immediate results. No one is perfect and my daughters aren’t always doing ‘beautiful’ things; but, overall, who they are inside is beautiful. Just as my mother encouraged me, I’m going to encourage my girls to focus on their true beauty and continue being pretty women.

1Pe 3:3 - 4 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden being of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a humble and peaceable spirit, which is in the sight of God of great value.