Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Perspective -- Inner Beauty Thoughts

I got on the scale yesterday. I'll have to let Charlie know that I did not lose weight over Thanksgiving. But I didn't gain weight either. The scale read the same this Monday as it did last Monday. And in between I've been chowing down on carbs.

I'm finding it supremely difficult to balance my low-carb lifestyle with being a wife and mother. Honestly, I'm the only one in my household with a sensitivity to carbs. The rest of the gang seems to handle them just fine.

I'm having a tough time trying to maintain beloved holiday traditions, such as hanging gingerbread cookies on our Christmas tree, with eating low-carb. Once I sample the sweets, it's downhill from there. (Note: No one has noticed that I haven't made a Christmas countdown garland filled with M&Ms. I guess that's one carbilicious tradition that we can ditch.)

In the midst of this holiday angst, my husband came across a section in Neal A. Maxwell's book, "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience" that hit home. Here are three quotes that resonated with me.

"How ironic it is to envy someone who has a pretty figure but who is a spiritual cripple."

"Think for a moment how different it would be if people took on that physical appearance which would reflect distinctly how well they are doing spiritually.... When the outer person reflected the inner person, whom would we applaud? And whom would we pity?"

"The faithful but perhaps plump woman whose nails are worn but who is a giving mother, wife, and neighbor has a queenly beauty and a regal way, if we would but see her as she really is; her beauty will not be taken from her by the passing years."

3 comments:

Suko said...

It's wrong to judge on the basis of appearance, but so many do. After meeting someone, inner beauty becomes much more important than outer beauty. Nice post!

Flashlight Girl said...

Wow! Thank you. I so needed that quote today. However, I'm a bit worried what the physical appearance of my "spiritual" self would be. I got some work to do!

Christie said...

I'm a plump housewife with short, ragged nails, but there's not much queenly or regal about me. On a good day I'm more along the lines of chirpy and goofy.

And Flashlight Girl, you don't have much work to do. Just maintenance. Like the rest of us. My mom used to give a talk about "gress." You either pro-gress or you re-gress. There is no such thing as arrival, or just plain gress. Somedays I think I'm progressing a micrometer at a time. Sigh.