The Spirit of True Beauty...

Hi friends,

Have you ever read a passage of Scripture, maybe a verse in particular, and really felt challenged by how you could ever live up to that instruction or ideal? I know I have... many times! One of those passages is 1 Peter 3:3-4 where Peter writes to wives of unbelieving husbands in some first century churches, 'Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewellery or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is great worth in God's sight.'

The reason I have found these verses challenging is that quiet and gentle are two words that definitely do NOT describe me! I am chatty, loud and opinionated and can be stubborn and sometimes harsh in my tone towards others. God has taken me on a journey over the last couple of decades in learning how to temper these personality traits and he has chipped off and smoothed down some of the rough edges through gentle teaching and not-so-gentle experiences. But the fact remains that I am still not a quiet or gentle person. Does anyone else relate to this struggle?

When I was creating this page I started reflecting on this 'quiet and gentle spirit' and was reminded that this is a description that could be attributed to the Holy Spirit. One of the images used for the Holy Spirit is a dove, which is both gentle and quiet, and one of the fruits of the spirit is gentleness. That does not mean that the Holy Spirit is not also fire or that he does not challenge injustice or sin. But the Spirit does work in quiet and gentle ways to lead us to Christ and in his ways. That was encouraging to me because I know that the Holy Spirit dwells in me and therefore the Spirit who is gentle and quiet leads and guides me. Even though my personality is not gentle or quiet, I can rely on the Spirit in me to help me to quiet my spirit (and my mouth!) and to respond to others with gentleness.

I used the beautiful new True Beauty set on this page, stamping the roses with Sage Versamagic ink then colouring with watercolours and coloured pencils. The text is a combination of True Beauty, His Name and Bitty Minnie Alpha and I added a couple of little accent images from Let's Do This. I added a butterfly stamped and die-cut with Made New and the coordinating dies.

Let's be grateful for the quiet and gentle ministry of the Holy Spirit at work within us.

Be blessed...

x Amy x