Wednesday, March 5, 2014

1 Nephi 11:8

"And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me: Look! And I looked and beheld a tree; and it was like unto the tree which my father had seen; and the beauty thereof was far beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow."
1 Nephi 11:8


One of my favorite books is about an ugly woman who learns to be beautiful in her actions and in her compassion, even though she never marries.   A friend of mine in college used to collect pictures from magazines to show to her friends back in Swaziland that dark skin can be beautiful, because they believed themselves to be ugly.  ... People who I've never met have over the years instantly liked me or disliked me depending on whether during that time of my life I was thin or overweight, and it has always been hard to step back from either of those things and realize that those insta-judgements aren't what I should internalize about myself, whether good or bad.
Here, God shows Nephi a vision which he says exceeds ALL beauty... and that beautiful tree of life is a representation of the love of God.  I really like that idea... that love is beauty.  That God's love for us is the most beautiful thing there could be.  Psalms 50:2 talks about Zion being the perfection of beauty as well.  Which makes sense, because the idea of Zion is a place where everyone loves each other, and we care for each other and lift each other up.
Today, let's choose internal and spiritual beauty.  Let's learn to love the people around us.  Let's help and give and love, and remember that no matter whether people like us or hate us, that immediate external reaction doesn't mean anything.  Let's hold up a spiritual mirror instead.  Who we learn to be, the way we treat others, and the way we learn to love... those are the things that will last.

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