Beauty Is . . .

I love to decorate.  I can spend hours pouring over magazines, catalogs and books.  There are hundreds of decorating blogs on the internet, and there are some that I love to look at.  It's just something I enjoy!

Recently I've been explaining to my son that what you look like on the outside isn't as important as your heart.  If I had a girl, it would be easier to explain, I think - "Pretty is as pretty does!"  Not so easy with a boy. 

Yesterday I participated in a staff retreat with my church, where I'm a volunteer staff member.  One of the main topics was, "Barriers to Growth."  Not just on a church level, but on a personal level, too . . . Pastor Andy kept asking, "Where are you not growing?  What is keeping you from growth?"  Deep discussions of this sort always get me thinking, and during our prayer time at the end of the day, my thoughts turned to this awesome kid God has given me.

Sometimes he and I just clash.  He'll have a great day at school, I'll have a great day at home, but 5 minutes after we are together we are having an argument.  He's in tears, I'm in tears.  I. HATE. THAT.  Seriously hate it. 

Yesterday I prayed that I would spend as much time making my home spiritually and emotionally beautiful as I do physically beautiful.  No ministry that I ever have, no impact I make on this world, will matter much to me if my child doesn't know Christ, or is turned from Him because of my actions, my attitudes. 

Jesus said in Matthew 18:6:  "If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were drowned in the depths of the sea."  That's certainly not how I want things to be for us!

So I remind myself that pretty is as pretty does.  What good does it do me to spend hours and hours decorating, but have a bad relationship with my son?  Or my husband?  And once I am confidant that those relationships are built on a solid foundation, my focus moves to my family, my friends.  Lives are the important things.  Not things.  My house is nothing compared to His beauty.  So let me remember that, and keep this verse as my motivation:  

One thing I ask of the LORD,
       this is what I seek:
       that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
       all the days of my life,
       to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
       and to seek him in his temple.Psalm 27:4