(Previously Published on Mrs Words Blog)
LOVELY in the English dictionary is said to mean: very beautiful or attractive; pleasant or enjoyable; delightful; something genuinely beautiful or grand; someone or something attractive or inspires love; used to describe a person who is kind, friendly and pleasant to be with.
It originates from the Old English word luflic, which evolved to become the word love. The word lovely was used to describe something or someone who was loved. So, that hasn’t really changed over time. We still use the word “lovely” in that context today.
Why am I using this word as a “You are…” word? Well, it’s not because I am trying to say that we are all supermodels and look extraordinarily beautiful – which you may well be, and I’m not knocking that at all, but I certainly am not a supermodel. However, I am lovely and you are lovely because you are beautiful and attractive inside. You are pleasant and enjoyable. You are delightful and grand. You are someone attractive and you inspire love. You are kind, friendly and pleasant to be with. I am absolutely sure of it.
I have covered this a little bit before, in my earlier post on “You are…Beautiful”, but I want to expand a bit here and maybe go in a slightly different direction. So, lets explore this word a little bit more…
To be lovely is to inspire love. I am genuinely convinced that in most cases, the moment that a new mother and father sets their eyes on their newborn child for the very first time, they are immediately overwhelmed with love for that child. It is instant! Love at first sight. They truly believe that their child is lovely – even though outsiders could sometimes see the new baby as puffy, wrinkly or even monkey faced – the baby’s parents think they are simply lovely. The newborn hasn’t yet done anything to warrant this love from their parents. It hasn’t performed any tricks or incredible feats. Sometimes it hasn’t even opened its eyes or made a sound or movement and yet, love abounds. The newborn inspires love by simply just being. It is not an earned or deserved thing, it just is.
That’s that way that God sees you. He created you and said “it is good”. That tells me that you are lovely despite yourself. Ha! That’s pretty weird, isn’t it? Well, what I’m trying to get at is that being lovely is not about your outward appearance or how you behave. It’s way more than that. It’s about who you are inside. There is “lovely” in every single person. There is inherent kindness and friendliness in you. You are beautiful and grand. Even on the days when you feel like you want to strangle someone. You are lovely.
Most of us seek to want to live our lives as ‘good’ people. This is especially true for Christians and those who have acknowledged Jesus Christ as their Savour. We are pursuing to live life according to God’s will. Constantly being transformed to become all that God has called us to be. Now, that doesn’t mean that we are perfect by any stretch of the imagination. No, it actually means the opposite of that.
We are imperfect creatures, who are being made perfect in Christ. As long as we are living in this world, we are failed, fallen sinners. But, we have been saved by His grace and as we live our lives for Christ, He is continuously working in us to mould us and make us all that He has called us to be. I believe we will attain perfection when we come face to face with our Saviour King in Heaven at the end of our journey here on this earth.
In the mean time, as we navigate through this thing called life, we need to believe that we are lovely. You need to believe that you are lovely.
Being lovely is not necessarily something that we can choose to be, or that we can earn by good deeds. It’s simply a given. Even the most fallen and broken character on this planet has some loveliness in them. Yes, I am thinking of the most hardened criminal that I can imagine, who is currently locked up in jail for murder or rape or some of the most heinous crimes that one can think of. I still believe that they have ‘lovely’ in them. Because, they made choices or were perhaps caught up in incredible unfortunate circumstances that left them with no other way out, or they were battling mental illness – how they lived or what they did does not cancel out the fact that they are lovely.
Everyone is created and born with kindness, gentleness and beauty inside of them. I believe that we are given a choice to cultivate the goodness or to neglect it. And yes, sometimes it’s our surroundings and experiences that help us choose and that’s ok.
Bad happens to all of us at one point or another. It’s about how and what you choose when everything is going along just fine. The loveliness that is inside you can be nurtured and developed to blossom and flourish if you let it. It’s already inside you and you can choose to cultivate it if you want to.
It won’t necessarily change your outward appearance and make you into that beautiful super model that I mentioned earlier (and that’s a bummer – ha!), but it will show. The loveliness will ooze out of you when you least expect it. In that moment when someone treats a stranger harshly in-front of you, the loveliness inside you will help you be the good Samaritan and show them some kindness.
The lovely will show when you smile at the attendant that is serving you, or when you see a friend in need and you offer to help. Your lovely will shine when you hear someone gossiping and instead of joining in, you walk away. There are so many little ways your loveliness can show. It can become an almost effortless thing the more you practice it.
So, I challenge you to let your ‘lovely’ shine, because beautiful one, YOU ARE LOVELY!!!
