THe EyE OF ThE bEHoLDeR

I remember that old saying "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder". I don't know its origin and I am also not sure how it came about. If I was taking a guess, I'd say that a person walking in an offense came up with it to combat some really raw feelings. It might be a true saying. Maybe it's warped. What people see about you isn't always the truth. Sometimes what they see is deceiving because of how they view what they are looking at or how they view themselves. There's a prevailing thought that there is no such thing as an ugly baby. They are beautiful and they all come from God. I'm not here to dispute that. Matter of fact, let's use a different analogy.

A middle aged man waits for decades to finally buy the car of his dreams. He has accumulated the right amount of money. He orders custom designs to suit his tastes. He gets the phone call that his car is ready. He races to the car dealership and is led to where his brand new dream car is. His mouth falls open as he looks at his investment: a shiny, brand new fuchsia colored Mustang with Kelly green and sky blue racing stripes. He smiles and clenches his fist. "YES!" he shouts as all the salesmen and customers stare at him in disbelief.

"This car looks amazing!", the new owner cries.

"That car is god-awful!", one of the customers mumbles to her husband.

Two different opinions. Two different sets of eyes. One object being viewed. It really comes down to that. This man envisioned this vehicle for years and whatever the reason for this unique color choice, it holds some significance for him and fills him with pride. He thinks it's beautiful. The onlookers think it's gaudy and an eyesore. They are both looking at the same car but see it differently in value, beauty, and appeal.

What would happen if a normal view was distorted or obscured? That would obviously affect your ability to see, correct? It wouldn't change what you were attempting to look at, just how you saw it. There is a Bible passage that I think speaks volumes. Let me warn you first that this is not a popular set of verses.

"And why worry about a speck in the eye of a brother when you have a board in your own? Should you say, 'Friend, let me help you get that speck out of your eye, 'when you can't even see because of the board in your own? Hypocrite! First get rid of the board, Then you can see to help your brother." (Matthew 7:3-5 TLB)

Look at those wheels.
The color is so bland.
Those rims look like they came from the Dollar Store.
That car probably belongs to a single guy.
This is the kind of car you see in magazines.
That car is so different and unique - I've never seen anything like it.
That car is absolute trash. 

That's a car we're talking about. Now replace the word "wheels" with hair. And after the word "color", add "of her dress". Replace the word "rims" with "shoes". As you can see, it's not a huge leap to talk about people the way we could this car. Remember that passage a little bit ago? What is that mote in his eye was a cultural standard? What if that beam in her eye was a bias because of an incident from her past? What if the person deeming you beautiful or ugly has a problem with their vision? Beauty might very well be in the eye of the beholder. Hopefully, no matter what you hear or what people are saying, you'll enjoy that dream car or whatever else you've been blessed with that people have an opinion about.