ETERNAL BEAUTY

 

I know a Russian lady who had a hip defect in her youth which caused her to walk with a gait. Because of it she grew up thinking she was ugly and yearned to be beautiful. When she immigrated to America some years later she had a hip operation that corrected her impediment and she took up yoga and adopted the raw food diet to make herself beautiful.

She has been a raw foodist for over 30 years now and is nearly 70 years old. She maintains a very regimented beauty protocol which is her main focus in life. As a result she looks much younger with flawless skin and a slim toned body. She turned her pursuit of beauty into a business which she runs to this day and has even written books about it.

You will find such committed and dedicated raw foodists on social media today who have made this lifestyle their main focus. This is not a critique of such people. I have for a long time admired their dedication and self-discipline. I certainly have not been as consistent and vigilant in taking care of my own body.

There is, however, a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that warns against total commitment to the body and negligence of the soul:  “Therefore, care not for the body, neither the life of the body, but care for the soul, and for the life of the soul.” (101:37)

I have always thought this scripture means that our salvation is dependent on the state of our souls and not our bodies…..which is true, but there is something else that is dependent on the soul: our resurrection.

We prize physical beauty in this world way too much and we struggle when youth fades and old age and sickness sets in. Despite our efforts to live in an anti-aging world, we cannot escape the fact that we live in corruptible bodies which will one day meet death. How well we have looked after our bodies here will not be the deciding factor of our eternal beauty.

Everything on this telestial plane is in its crude state of existence. Apostle Paul called our earthly bodies ‘vile’ which the Saviour will ‘fashion like unto His glorious body’ (Philippians 3:20-21). In resurrection, our eternal beauty will be the reflection of our soul and our bodies will reflect the glory of the kingdom in which we will dwell eternally.

Those who inherit celestial kingdom will assume the glory of the sun, even the glory of God. Those who inherit terrestrial kingdom will assume the glory of the moon and those who inherit telestial will assume the glory of the stars….(D&C 76:70,71,81). In short, our brilliance will depend on how much darkness is in us.

All in all, our righteousness determines the eternal beauty we will live with forever. Even the most physically beautiful person on the earth today could end up being just average in eternity….so yes, even though it is important to care for our bodies, if you want beauty, the care of your soul, surpasses that care. We live with our physical bodies for a time but with our resurrected bodies we will live forever.

The Saviour is an immortal, celestialised being of light. There is no darkness in Him because of the perfection of His soul (1 John 1:5; D&C 88:6,7). When He returns to earth in His glory, the sun shall hide its face in shame and ‘the need will disappear for the sun and the moon to give light to God’s covenant people (D&C 133:49; Isaiah 60:19,20; Orson Pratt in Journal of Discourses, 14:355-56). Imagine being so pure and so full of light of truth that you shine brighter than the sun.

I am a visual person. I appreciate beauty in many forms. It lifts my soul to be surrounded by the beauty of flowers, nature, people and homes. Yes, I would like to be one of the beautiful people but above the beauty of the body, I value the purity of my soul more. When I am resurrected I want my righteousness to shine and I don’t want any darkness in me. I want love, kindness and truth in the very depths of my soul to shine throughout immensity of time and space. I want it shining forever.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Light by The Land of Dreams)