Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.  1 Peter 3:3 

 

A beauty product company once asked people in a large city to send pictures, along with brief letters, describing the most beautiful women they knew. Within weeks thousands of letters came in. One letter caught the attention of the employees and was soon passed on to the Managing Director. It was written by a boy from a broken home, who lived in a rundown neighborhood. With lots of spelling corrections, an excerpt from his letter read: ‘A beautiful woman lives down the street from me. I visit her every day. She makes me feel like the most important kid in the world. We play checkers and she listens to my problems. She understands me. When I leave she always yells out the door that she’s proud of me.’ The boy ended his letter saying, ‘This picture shows you that she is the most beautiful woman in the world, and one day I hope I have a wife as pretty as her’. Intrigued by the letter the Managing Director asked to see the woman’s picture. His secretary handed him the photograph of a smiling, toothless woman, well advanced in years, sitting in a wheelchair. Sparse grey hair was pulled back in a bun. The wrinkles that formed deep furrows on her face were somehow diminished by the twinkle in her eyes. ‘We can’t use this woman,’ exclaimed the MD, smiling. ‘She would show the world that our products aren’t necessary to make someone beautiful’.