“I Only See Her As Beautiful”

God shows up in the oddest places sometimes.

Yesterday, God was at a local Kroger store in my community. I would tell you which one but then it would go viral and everyone would bombard the store and sure enough, some goofball would see an image on a wall and then it’s pandemonium.

So to prevent that from happening, let’s just say God was at the Kroger yesterday.

Here’s how it went down.

I had a few items so I got in the express lane to patiently wait. In the next line was a mother and two teenage girls which I must assume were her daughters. They were assisting the mom in checking out and the younger of the two was bagging. Nothing unusual there.

The young one caught my attention for some reason. There was something different, yet from the angle I was standing she looked perfectly normal, very much a teenager. Then she turned around…

…I could not tell what caught my attention first. Was it her gentle and caring manner? Or was it the very obvious facial deformities? My mind immediately went back to the 1980’s and a movie called Mask. In it, the character of Rocky Dennis suffered from craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, which is a rare, disfiguring scelerotic bone disorder, which also typically reduce life expectancy. It was a very moving film.

Her hands were also affected making it difficult to pick up items yet she did it with a sense of accomplishment.

As they left the store I wanted to catch up with her and tell her what a great job she did in bagging the groceries, but my express line was not expressing, so I just watched her interact and then walk away.

Here is where the God part comes in.

As I was standing in line watching her, here is how the conversation went down.

I asked God “Why was this quiet young girl affected by such a horrible disfiguring disease?”
God replied, “Who are you talking about, what girl?”
I then asked, “What girl, what do you mean what girl? The disfigured girl right over there.”
God said as only He can, “John, you and all these other people who are staring at her are truly blind. I made her and I only see her as beautiful.”

I walked out of the Kroger and have thought about this encounter all day and found this verse which seems to fit from the New International Version.

“Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” I Peter 3:4

JHH