We have all heard (and perhaps have even used) the expression: “beauty is within.”
Proverbs 27:19 states, “As the face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the person.”
Wow! That’s a game-changer!
Think for a moment, when coming upon a still, clear stream, how easily you can see your own reflection when you look into the water!
Apparently, this is how easily our “persons” are reflected in the “streams” of our hearts!
I was taken aback for a moment when meditating upon this passage.
I questioned: Is my “stream” clear, cool, inviting, and lovely; or, is it murky, dark, rough, and contaminated? What am I “reflecting” as I go about my day? What do my children see in my “stream” and what does my husband see? What type of stream is my neighbor seeing in me?
Each time I am impatient, neglectful, lazy, irritated, short-tempered, or selfish, I am polluting the “stream of my heart.”
I suppose my goal (and that of every Christian) should be to create a heart’s stream so crystal clear that when others look into it, they see, not me, but the love of God.
Mother Teresa, a well known religious sister, who spent decades tending to the poorest of the poor on the streets of Calcutta, often said that we do not have to do great things to please the Lord, only little things, with great love.
We can clean and restore the “streams of our hearts” by offering a smile to a co-worker or passerby, taking a moment to tie a little one’s shoe (for the umpteenth time), picking someone’s clutter up out of the doorway without muttering a complaint, sending a hand-made note to a far away friend, or singing while we work. We can visit someone who is lonely, pause to watch the sun set, or spend 10 minutes a day praying for others. Small acts done with great love create beauty in the world. True beauty.
What types of cars we drive, homes we live in, sizes of jeans we wear or amounts of money are listed on our paychecks do not really matter. What does matter is how often and how much we give to those around us from our hearts. It matters whether we are filling the streams of our hearts with toxins and filth and pollution, or are creating clear, clean and beautiful reflections.
A wise man once told me that we can do nothing to change other people’s actions, but everything to change our reactions to their actions. We can choose kindness, joy, compassion and charity to rid the streams of our hearts of pollution and fill them with true beauty, instead.
What does the stream of your heart look like? Can others find true beauty there?
Each person’s life is an unrepeatable gift to the world. No two heart streams are exactly alike; but, every one of us can do our best to keep our own streams clean, thus making the world a more beautiful place for all.
Writer Bio
Judy Dudich resides in the beautiful woods of Pennsylvania, where 24 acres of land and a home-office provide the perfect setting for her children’s home-education and her own homesteading and business ventures. Life is full of blessings (and challenges!) for Judy, as a wife, mother of 10 and Grammy to six. She is a published author, whose book, “I Surrender/A Study Guide for Women” continues to encourage and support others in Christian family lifestyles throughout the world. Judy has also previously worked in the online speaking circuit. Her passion for permaculture, re-purposing, foraging and organic gardening fills her days with learning and adventure that she loves to share.
