Handsome vs Handy
You know you’re in love
when you can’t fall asleep
because reality is finally
better than your dreams.
Dr. Suess
All of us know what it means to be attracted to someone for their physical qualities. In fact, the entertainment industry very carefully shapes our perception of attractiveness and then fulfills it leaving every day people clamouring after the latest diet, exercise fad and fashion trend. Only a very few actually meet this illusive standard and in reality, it isn’t all that real. Air brushing, starvation diets, exercise regimens that leave no time for life (especially if you have to work 9 – 5 plus travel time): this is just not the way most of us live.
Psalm 139:13
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
When God created each of us, He knew how big/little we would be; He knew what colour our hair would be and how big our noses. Yet, billions of dollars are spent every year trying to ‘improve’ on what God made us. In our never ending search to be more physically attractive, we can lose sight of what truly makes us beautiful.
Talking to the women, Peter tried to explain to them the value of the heart over their outward appearance.
1 Peter 3:4
Instead, it [beauty] should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
Peter knew that outward appearance was not a true representation of the beauty of the individual, rather their heart was the reflection of who they really were.
Roman 7:22
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
If I delight in eating chocolate chip cookies, I am going to eat them. If I delight in singing, I am going to sing. If I delight in God’s law, I am going to follow it.
I remember, years ago, seeing a television program called, ‘The Red Green Show’. The show depicts a goofy woodsman with little common sense who is able to achieve wonders with a roll of duct tape. The byline of the show was, “If the women don’t find you handsome, at least they should find you handy!”
When I consider my husband, I see a man who, although physically imperfect (by the world’s standards): under six feet, bald, doesn’t wear the latest fashions and truly does not care; is incredibly attractive to me. God creates us to be physically attracted to one another and I appreciate the way he is built and the way his smile lights his eyes. I like that his feet are bigger than mine and his hands swallow mine when he holds them. Those physical things are all great, but the thing that draws me closest to him is his heart. He is willing to work hard to support our family. He is willing to learn new things (like this past month he has been learning how to repair our vehicle – saving the family thousands of dollars). He is willing to give his time to our children, reading and playing games, praying with them and for them. If I could choose between the latest Hollywood hunk and my husband, I would choose my husband every time.
1 Chronicles 28:9
Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you;
Romans 12:1-2
offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.
Remember, although man looks on the outward appearance, God always looks on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7