The truth about beauty and contentment

Easter is one of the most significant periods within the life of the Church and, like Christmas, can be a very busy time, with lots of different services taking place.  Though I thoroughly enjoyed being able to share this Easter in different services with the three churches of which I am Minister, I welcomed the fact that Sue and I were able to take a 3-day post Easter break in my favourite place, Scarborough.

It was great to be able to take in the sea air, and just enjoy a change of scenery for a short period.  We were able to meet up with some members of our family and also some friends from Doncaster who were in Scarborough for a Christian conference.  On the way home we called in to visit my Mum, who is 93 today.  She is a remarkable woman in many ways (not least in that she survived bringing up 6 children!)  Though she is rather frail, and has to use a zimmer to get around, she phones me regularly to tell me how happy she is.  To live in such a state of contentment as my Mum does is a wonderful thing.

When we arrived home after our time away, I noticed that a Slimming World flyer had been put through our letter box (nothing personal, I hope!)  The headline on the flyer immediately took my attention: "Live happy with Slimming World."  The clear implication is that losing weight will somehow bring happiness into a person's life.  A report in the news this week highlighted the major problem we appear to have in this country with obesity, and it seems fairly clear that for a significant number of people (myself included), to lose some weight would be a positive thing in many ways.  But would it really, of itself, bring happiness?

We live at a time when many people seem to be obsessed with body image.  How a person looks is often prized above all else.  In 2013, 50,000 cosmetic surgery procedures were performed in the UK alone.  Perhaps as a society we are forgetting the old saying that "beauty is only skin deep."  I think of the line from the famous speech of Martin Luther King: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character."  To paraphrase those words, we might say that we look to a day when it is recognised that the most important thing about a person is not what they look like but by whom they really are and how they live (i.e. their character).

In the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel we read about a time when the prophet Samuel was instructed by God to anoint a new king for Israel.  Samuel knew that it was to be one of the sons of a man called Jesse.  Samuel naturally thinks that God's choice is likely to be one of Jesse's older and more experience sons.  In fact God has chosen the youngest, David.  God reminds Samuel, 'I do not judge as people judge. They look at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart' (1 Samuel 16:7).

My Mum is frail, she is more-or-less restricted to her flat, she can't do many of the things she once could do with ease, her health isn't great, she isn't outwardly as beautiful as she was in her youth.  Yet she is incredibly content (she puts it down to "my faith and my family").  True contentment, true worth, true beauty has very little to do with a person's outward appearance.  If only our society would realise that fact.

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/martinluth297516.html

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/martinluth297516.html

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/martinluth297516.html