Interior Decorator #2
| Let your beauty not be external - the braiding of hair and wearing of gold or fine clothes - but the inner person of the heart, the lasting beauty of a gentle and tranquil spirit, which is precious in God's sight (1Peter3:3-4) |
There are two aspects to the interior that Peter hints at here:
- In Hebrew culture, the heart is not the seat of emotions - the kidneys did that! The heart is the control centre of life. Beauty must be found in an orderly heart that knows what it is about even when chaos reigns.
- A gentle and tranquil spirit. What atmosphere do you carry around with you? Someone in whom God lives can bring the same kind of peace into life as Jesus brought to the disciples in the storm-driven boat.
It means spending time in His presence and then taking His presence with us into the day.
In his children's book, "You are Special", Max Lucado tells the story of Punchinello who is a wemmick. Wemmicks were wooden puppets (a bit like Pinocchio). Wemmicks went about all day sticking star stickers on those they approved of and dots on those who they didn't approve of. Of course this would become a self-fulfilling prophecy because dotted people would feel glum and get more dots and starred people would feel good and get more stars. Punchinello had lots of dots, but met a girl who had neither stars or dots. When he asked for her secret, she said that she regularly spent time with the Carpenter (the Maker). Punchinello visits the Carpenter who tells him that he is special and that he is welcome at any time. When he leaves, one of his dots just falls off...
