Chloe knows beauty when she sees it.

We have this full-length mirror in our bedroom. Chloe comes in several times a day, puts her hands on either side of the mirror and tilts it toward her. There she stands for several minutes at a time, just staring at herself.

Like I said: She knows beauty when she sees it.

The first couple of times she did it I smiled and thought, “How sweet.” After a while, though, I got a little concerned. There’s a big difference between looking at yourself in the mirror and obsessing over yourself in the mirror.

Now I’ll be the first to admit — and this is a completely unbiased opinion of course — that Chloe is a beautiful child. She has beautiful eyes, a beautiful face and her beautiful little smile is enough to make the angels sing. I can’t really blame her for looking at herself over and over. But her actions seem to be bordering on narcissism.

I can just imagine Chloe in 10 years. She’ll be a teenager, spending three hours in front of the bathroom mirror to get her hair “just right.” She’ll also want to wear makeup, which I’ll fight tooth and nail. But let’s not think about such unhappy things before we have to, OK?

It reminds me of the saying, “Beauty is only skin deep.” Physical, outer beauty has no bearing on true, inner beauty. No matter how physically attractive Chloe is — and she is beautiful, have I mentioned that yet? — true beauty comes from within.

The Bible says it like this in Proverbs 31:30: “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” There’s no guarantee that outer, physical beauty will last. Skin sags. Hair turns gray. Wrinkles and creases multiply.

But the one thing that will last long after physical beauty fades is the inner, spiritual beauty that comes from having a relationship with your heavenly father through Jesus Christ. He is the one who makes us beautiful. He is the one who transforms us from the inside out. He is the one who changes our hearts, our spirits, our lives and turns them into something much more beautiful than we could ever do on our own.

True beauty comes from within. True beauty is given to us by our heavenly father. I hope Chloe learns that lesson — and soon. She’s about to tear that mirror off its stand.


Parrish Myers is pastor of Pine Crest Baptist Church in Gainesville. His column runs every other week in Sunday Life.