The Piano

Our old piano has had "issues" for a long time.  We bought it about 10 years ago, when Emily started taking piano lessons.  If I was musically inclined, I could explain its problems to you, but let's just say our piano is a tuner's worst nightmare.  But it is one of the most beautiful pianos I have ever seen. It was built in the 1890s and is a work of art!

Here is a picture of our piano in its new home - the garage.

Last fall we had it tuned again.  After 6 hours, our piano tuner was ready to pull his hair out!  Many of the strings broke as he worked, but he had the piano in good working order when he left.  A few days later, he let us know that he had a piano for us, if we wanted a different one, that was in very good condition, but it wasn't very pretty.  The sound would not compare to our old piano - it would be much better!  Some wanted to keep the old piano because it was so pretty, but Emily, who plays the most, was anxious to play one that sounded good.

Our new piano is very plain.  It was built in the 1950's and is a little scratched up.  It was in a first grade classroom for many years and was well cared for.  And boy can it sing! :)  I often hear Emily say, "I love this piano", while she is playing it. :) 

As I watched the men hauling our very lovely old piano out of the house, I started thinking about something that I have been meditating on for a few weeks - beauty.  How important is beauty?  In our culture, it is one of the most sought after attributes in a woman's life.  Oh to be beautiful!  We color our hair, straighten and whiten our teeth, pad our bras, cover our faces in make-up, purchase sunglasses with latest in-style shape, and search for fashionable clothes, all so that we can be counted beautiful with the masses!  Even men who are running for president desire to be handsome because they are more likely to get elected.  So, if physical beauty is necessary to win the approval of the world, why wasn't Jesus handsome?  (See Isaiah 53:2)

The truth is beauty is empty.  The Bible calls it "vain".  God says that this kind of beauty in a woman's life is worthless, having no substance, value, or importance...just like my old piano.  On the outside my old piano looks fantastic, but inside it's empty.  A piano was created and designed to make beautiful music.  What good is it if it just sits there looking nice?  We were created to glorify God, to be His representatives to a lost and dying world.  While I do not think there is any value in us trying to look ugly, nor do I think that that is what God wants from us, our true beauty is found in the heart.  The Bible says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. God made us beautiful, but His beautiful and the world's beautiful are two different things. "Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." Proverbs 31:30  This same word, beauty is described in Proverbs 6:25, with a warning to young men about evil women.  "Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids."  We need to start to see this type of beauty from God's perspective.  It is neither necessary or of any value.

When I get all dressed up and look my best, and I go out and someone says, "You look so pretty!", what value does that have in my life?  Not that it is wicked to get dressed up and look nice....don't get me wrong!  But do I really think that God looks down from heaven at that moment and says, "Mindy, that's my girl! I am so proud of you! You look so pretty!"  You would think, at times, by the value that my mind tries to put on beauty, that I really do believe that!

Trying to look beautiful is bondage!  There will always be a new and ever changing standard for "pretty".  It is like a hungry monster that can never be satisfied.  If we let it, it will keep us striving our whole life, never able to find rest and contentment.  In the end, it will keeps us full of ourselves and distant from God.  To be honest, I have bondages in this area that run so deep that there are days when I wonder if I will every be free from them.  Yet another thought reminds me that God is able!  I want God's mind on this matter! I want balance, but it is hard to find balance in a culture that worships beauty.  It feels at times like I am going against a tidal wave of lies that constantly bombard my mind and contradict God's Word, making me focus on the worthless and empty things of this world.

The real problem is a focus on outward appearance.  It not only keeps captive those seeking the world's approval, it keeps anyone captive who is overly concerned with how they look.  An Amish woman can be in just as much bondage as the young girl who is consumed with fashion magazines, seeking the next fad.  Oh to get our focus off ourselves and onto the Lord!  May we seek to impress only Him and rest in His love for us!  And like my new piano, may our true beauty be found within!