Judging the look

I was in the kitchen preparing the beans for my homemade baked beans for tomorrow’s dinner. For as long as I could remember my mother and grandmother would pick beans which is essentially taking out the unappealing ones. You know the ugly and broken ones. But as I began to pick them out I began to wonder; whose idea was it to remove the “ugly ones”? It all still eats the same. Like really, where did we ever come up with the idea that just because it is unattractive to our naked eye that it has no value? Who gave the person who came up with that idea the authority on what is beautiful? Why did that person or group get to control that? Most importantly have we all been brainwashed to a certain extent to what beauty may or may not be? Does it eat better because it is appealing to the eye? I have eaten some “pretty” nasty stuff and some things that were not so appealing I tried it and they are some of my favorite dishes. As I write this, I think back to when I watched the food channel and two very popular chefs were standing amongst a field of fresh fruits and vegetables. Their objective was to bring awareness to the wasting of food and the fact that just because it may have had a bruise or a scar it would never see the grocery store or market shelves. It was a field where ugly food went to die as opposed to being used to for its purpose. I think about how when we go to the supermarket we pick over the items until we get the perfect one. What we feel is pleasing to our eyes by the standard as we have our own opinion of what beauty is.

We say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and to some extent that is true and when I have also heard that nobody wants something no one else wants. Again that may be true to a certain degree as well. We do this with everything. They have stores that sale discounted furniture and appliances because it has a scratch or a ding in it. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good discount just as good as anybody. The dent makes it in our opinion of less value. I even argue that many are guilty of doing the same thing to people. They are discarded because they are not appealing to the eye. Well let me just say I have met by definition if you will, some “unattractive” people with some of the biggest hearts that would do anything in this world for you. We miss out on their true beauty because we never looked passed how they physically looked. Like being less attractive makes them worthy of less and their options are limited. I have also by definition met some “attractive” people who are selfish, shallow and self-centered with a horrible attitude on top of that. But are tolerated because of how they look. “He crazy but he fine.” “She’s a gold digger, but she pretty though.” They appear to walk around as if they have perfume scented poop. But we all know that has a smell of its own and unlike mankind, it doesn’t discriminate. It leaves its mark on everybody. No one is excluded. We even do it to ourselves. If we have something on our personal bodies we perceive to be ugly, we spend hundreds or thousands of dollars trying to change our appearance to make ourselves look “better” than we thought we did before. Making changes so drastic and dangerous that it sometimes leaves us in an even worse state, unrecognizable or dead. If you have a blemish on your arm, would you cut the whole arm off, or do we do accept it, embrace it and move on?

But anyway, I begin to think what if God sent his son to die just for pretty people? What would be the standard or the measurement of His beauty be and if that was His criteria then how many of us would make the cut? What if our scars, marks and bruises caused God to overlook us to be? What if God played eenie meenie miney mo with our appearances? I am so glad our physical appearances had nothing to do with it. It was the behavior of mankind was the reason Jesus went to the cross. The Bible declares that Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners. While we were ugly in behavior not physical appearances. Nothing is worse than unpleasant behavior. Behavior that was defiling, corrupt and offensive to a Holy and Sovereign God. He died so purpose could be fulfilled. He looked past our behaviors and saw our needs of a Savior. I am so glad my looks have nothing to do with how God sees and values my soul. It was so valuable that He purchased it with the best to buy it and bring me back into his family. As we celebrate this Resurrection season let’s go forward remembering to see the beautiful potential and purpose in others just as our Lord and Savior did in us.