True Beauty...

Edward Young, an English poet, said..."What's true beauty but fair virtue's face?  Virtue made visible in outward grace?"

Virtue is "right action and thinking; goodness or morality".  Grace has various definitions, including: "a sense of what is right and proper; decency; thoughtfulness toward others; an attractive quality, feature, manner, etc."

 

I have heard more on this subject lately...even in the "secular" world.  How beauty is not how you look on the outside...but that true beauty comes from within.  We live in a society that focuses on beauty from within - from within bottles, jars, compacts and tubes.  That is clearly seen in the commercials and magazine ads.  The idea that within that bottle, jar, compact or tube is true beauty.  Sounds kind of silly if you ask me.  Why contain true beauty in something so small.  Especially when it can be from the heart.

The heart is what keeps a person alive...it pumps blood through out the body.  True beauty...virtue and grace...that comes from the heart can continually flow...it can provide life and encouragment to others.  Now THAT sounds like a true, genuine, authentic beauty if you ask me.  Something that is not contained in a small container...but something that can flow freely and benefit the giver as well as the receiver.

I am not one to make New Year's Resolutions...but I do like to make goals for myself throughout the year.  In 2009, I want to strive harder to have a true beauty that comes from within...