So many singers have songs with the word "BEAUTIFUL" in the title. I imagine they are trying to describe something they find beautiful, sometimes lustful, or breathtakingly disarming. According to Dictionary.com, beautiful is defined as pleasing the senses and the mind aesthetically or of a very high standard; excellent.
I grew up in a small border city called Laredo(insert Streets of Laredo song here), where there is an inordinately high number of aesthetically pleasing woman in residence. I grew up surrounded by very coiffed, impeccably dressed, manicured woman with perfect skin and perfect homes. From the outside, their lives seemed entirely perfect.
In 2006 I was visiting a dear friend in Washington D.C. and we were eating at Maggiano's. It was my first visit to this delicious Italian spot and as we were leaving I spotted a tall, slender woman with graying blonde hair. She was wearing a turtleneck, purple I believe, with a tan corduroy coat. She was sitting at the bar and her long hair was thin, but fell along her face so beautifully that I was urged to approach her. I walked up and said, "You are the most beautiful woman in this restaurant." Her eyes filled with tears as she began to recount the memory of her past year. She had recently finished intense treatment for her second battle with breast cancer and was feeling old, tired, and defeated. I, too, began to cry. What a generous gift from heaven I received at that moment, tears rolling down my face, to know the words that came out of my mouth were rebuilding what the cancer had devoured.
As woman we are too often concerned with ourselves and how good(or bad) we look and we miss an opportunity to bless the other people in our world. When I say world, I mean WORLD! Yesterday I was at Sam's getting tires for my big road trip and I was shopping the book department. A hispanic couple is looking at the polo shirts directly behind me and the husband is NOT going to buy the pink shirt. I turn around to see a dark skinned, man with a clean cut mustache and jet black hair. Pink is perfect for him!!! I looked at both of them and said, "I'm sorry to pry, but your husband would look very handsome in the pink shirt!" She smiled, nodded and gave him the I-told-you face. He promptly found his size and they hurried to the food aisles. That man will wear his pink shirt with pride.
I am not looking for a pat on the back. I did not do anything out of the ordinary, or did I? Beauty is EVERYWHERE! Let me take a jaunt out to left field for a moment(as I often do) to talk to you about diamonds. I could drag statistics in here, but the important thing for you to know is diamonds aren't as rare as De Beers wants you to think. There are lots and lots and lots of diamonds. The market is very well controlled by a small number of people and therefore they keep the price high by controlling the commodity. I'm sure there is a great business term for this, but I majored in Dance Pedagogy! NOW for my point..... Compliments should NOT be treated like diamonds. Finding beauty in the things and people around you everyday does not make the compliment cheaper, it makes it more valuable.
Find value in the people around you and tell them so. I do want to clarify...You may not walk up to your boss, slap his butt and say, "You have a great smile!" Nor do I suggest (men) that you whisper in your married co-worker's ear, "That dress is very sexy on you!" Beauty is never naughty, it is kind, gentle, and classy(all synonyms of beautiful). I had a man walk up to me in CVS and say, "You look very beautiful today, ma'am." I thanked him and promptly called my husband and asked why he didn't say that to me. He had two things to say. "When I left the house this morning you had your Spanx on, rollers, no make-up and you hadn't brushed your teeth" and "Not everyone is married to a beauty queen!" I corrected him and said, "scholarship winner!"
I have always dreamed of being the most beautiful princess at the ball! Maybe you dream of that too, but you can make someone else the most beautiful prince or princess at the ball and isn't that soooooooooo much better? Yeah, I think so too.
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