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It was beautiful and clear as we walked along the ocean shore.
The air was crisp, sky was blue, and the sun was brilliant. The sand
showed few footprints. Shells were scattered in clusters as the surf
washed over them. The tide was receding and leaving more and more
shells behind. I began picking up shells, examining them, saving
some, tossing others back. The variety and their sparkle of color
in the sunlight attracted me. It was the inside of the shells that
was the most beautiful. Each was different from the other, yet the
inside of each one had a bright, smooth, mother of pearl glossiness, tinged
with the faint color of rose, or purple, or orange. As I held each
shell in my hand, the inside was so silky smooth that it invited itself
to be rubbed back and forth by my thumb. No matter what kind of shell
it was - mussel, snail, claim, scallop, oyster or assorted fragments, it
was the inside of the shell that had the most beauty and attraction.
That must be true of all of life, even we humans. It is what is hidden
in us, that which is inside and not in public view that is the most beautiful.
Jesus proclaimed that truth when he said, "the kingdom of God is within
you." We spend so much of our lives seeking the external things,
that which everyone sees, yet in the end that is not what really counts
in life. The lasting beauty is found on the inside. That part
of us and each other we barely know and rarely see is that which God most
fully knows and loves. How different life would be if we would
only trust and believe that we were all made beautiful inside, that there
was goodness and beauty within, God's own essence hidden in us all.
From then on, as Paul wrote, "we would regard no one from a human point
of view." How much more joy would be experienced on earth if we paid
less attention to the externals and instead sought to uncover the beauty
and goodness that God has placed in every human heart. --H.S.
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