Beauty

January 2008

What is beauty? I mean real beauty? I have been contemplating that all weekend. I witnessed real beauty and love between two ladies. They are both 80. They had a friendship that most of us can only wish we had and envy it when we see it. They did everything together. You never saw one without the other. One of them was weathered looking in the face and very petite with brown hair, the other one, had hair white as snow, and was very small and walked kind’of hunched over. They had so much beauty between them that you, for that one small fraction you were around them, you were thankful that you had witnessed it. You prayed that some of their beauty would rub off on you. They come in together, went on trips together, went to the store together, and brought goodies to us together. One was never without the other. One got sick, a brain tumor. Her family decided not to tell her, because the Dr. said it would be quick. The other went to her friend’s bedside, loved her and told her that. The sick one said that she wished she could just wrap her in a box and keep her right there beside her for always. She said “you are my best friend. I love you.” She died and now the other one grieves. Her friend has left her, but she knows in her heart that she will see her again. That is beauty of the rawest kind. Beauty, that just by knowing it is in the world, gives us hope and a deep sense that God is real and that this is what he’s been trying to show us all along. Beauty, I have seen real beauty and am blessed and better for it.