Wednesday February 7^th 2024

Sitting at my desk Tuesday morning, participating in our daily Morning Prayer gathering on zoom, it occurred to me: APPEARANCE.

My grandmother was known for always looking perfectly put together when she walked out her front door. In fact, living with her during the school year, I never saw her with a hair out of place. The ladies up the street would comment to me that “Mrs. Cole comes out to sweep the porch and even the seams of her stockings are straight!”.

Taking after her, I would never go out without makeup and lipstick … even to get the mail at the end of the driveway! Going to the store or church or even the dump required making sure I looked presentable.

Then came COVID and we were all entertaining guests in our homes via Zoom. And that too required making sure I looked presentable. At first.

What struck me on Tuesday was that I have “degraded” to attending morning prayer in my pajamas, no makeup, not showered. And you know what? No one cares!

In scripture, though, there is a verse that reminds us that appearance is more than just how well you are dressed. John 7:24 tells us not to judge based on appearance but to look beneath the surface.

What about when we meet people or see them in the store or on the street. Do we make decisions based on their appearance?

Two examples come to mind:

In the first, a dirty, ragged man sits on the church steps as the parishioners arrive. No one greets him or offers him assistance. They were all shocked when, as the first hymn played, he walked to the front of the church and then introduced himself as their new pastor.

In the other, several people are sitting in a pew. Two prim young ladies are on one end and two nicely-dressed young men are at the other. In the center sits a rough-looking, tattooed, leather-clad man. The thoughts of the neatly-dressed four are distracted in worship by how “that guy” is not a “real” Christian. The man in the center is holding a worn Bible and his thoughts are “Christ, my life and heart belong to You.”

So our outward appearance (clothes, makeup, car, house) is not as important as our inner appearance. What man sees is not as important as what God sees.

The other question is “What do others see in us?” That’s for another day.

I am so glad that the others gathering on that zoom call look beneath the surface – past the messy hair and lack of lipstick – to the disciple’s heart joining in prayer.

What does God see in your heart?