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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadQuiet Talks by Samuel Dickey: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Home Ideals: 07. The Secret of Beauty.
TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Home Ideals (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 07. The Secret of Beauty.
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The Secret of Beauty.
Our ideals change us. They change the face. The refining, gentling process is going on all the time, though unknown to us. The face always bears the impress of the spirit that reigns within. The real secret of sweet womanly beauty, and of strong manly face is here, and only here, nowhere else.
When Michael Angelo had finished his famous colossal statue of David, "the giant," many of his friends who had not seen him during the years when he was working upon it in Florence, declared with great surprise that he was changed; his face was changed. And as they looked at the statue, and then at the skilful chiseler, it was seen that he had carved his conception of David, not only into the beautiful white stone, but all unconsciously he had carved it, too, into the lines of his own beautified, ennobled face.
A minister who has been preaching for over forty years, told recently of two young women he had known in his early life. The one was decidedly homely, commonly so spoken of, but she was a Christian, with the highest ideals being woven into her daily life. The other was a decided beauty, but selfish, fond of pleasure-seeking, and a lover of the gay society that flattered her beauty. In mature womanhood the changes that had come into their faces were most striking. The homely girl had become a positively attractive woman in her face, with its fine gentleness, and its very features refined by the dominant spirit of her life. The other's face had hardened and wrinkled and coarsened, until the word "homely," and a yet less pleasing word were suggested by it.
The creative hand of God is an artist's hand. He planned beauty and strength of feature and form for women and men. But the plan can be worked out only by our earnest help. His Spirit in our hearts works out the real rare beauty into our faces through our actively working with Him. Our ideals will make our faces over into what he has planned, if they are allowed to.