Beautiful, Inside Out.

I once read this article in an Australian devotional, which says a lot about real beauty:

A beauty product company once asked people in a large country to sent pictures, along with brief letters, describing the most beautiful woman they knew. Within weeks, thousands of letters came in.

One letter caught the attention of the employees and was soon passed on to the company president. 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 visited 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 beautiful woman in the world, and one day I hope I have a wife as pretty as her.”

Intrigued by the letter, the president asked to see the woman’s picture. His secretary handed him the photography of a smiling, toothless woman, well advance in years, sitting in a wheelchair.

Sparse gray 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 this president, smiling. “She would show the world that our products aren’t necessary to be beautiful.

♥