The True Beauty Within

I can just picture him.  Dusty, thin,... the orginal "starving artist".  Looking harried, pensive, and a bit wild eyed as he walked through the marble mines of Carrara, Italy.  His hands caressing the ancient hardened earth. His eyes moving over the surface looking for the purest block of stone.  No veining.  It had to be unblemished and smooth, so as to represent the skin of the Holy beings he wished to release.  I imagine him mumbling in prayer to God.  Asking HIM to direct his eyes and hands to the "one".  The block of marble that held within it, a masterpiece that God, himself, desired of this sculptor to release.  The moment must have been exquisite when he found "it".  The "one".  The true form in that block of earth, the Lord of Heaven masterfully asked of Michelanglo to release.   I have read of the massive pully systems that were built to bring these giants of stone down from the mountain.  The men that strained under the weight of God's will, that worked through a dirty stubborn man.  Michelangelo would often build a shed around the rock, to conceal his work.  Every time he committed himself, body and soul, to the "taking away" of the excess, to release the beauty within.  He was known for praying over his task, asking God to direct his hands to release HIS truest form that had always been within the block of earth.  It had only to be released by the guidance and love of a masterful God through the hands of a skilled sculpture.  Many times, after months of eating only stale bread and barely bathing, Michelangelo would remove the walls of the temporary veiling structure.  The sculpture that his God had known was always there was revealed.  The true "beauty" that God had created for this unlikely piece of earth.  The "excess" had been chiseled away and the true identity born for all to see.    

Michelangelo, preferred sculpting marble to any other form of art.  He did paint beautifully, but is quoted in letters to his father that he preferred the marble to any other form of art, because of this "taking away" of the excess to reveal the "true identity" God had created.  A deeply religious and obviously spiritual man, he felt God guided his skillful hands and eyes in the inward searching of every sculpture.

Many of us go through life not being our true selves.  I've been there.  It was exhausting living up to others expectations, or my own unrealistic expectations, and trying to be something I was not.  I lived cloaked in fear and doubt.  When I decided that the facade was too much to keep, the taking away of the excess was akin to breaking apart.  My chiseling journey is still not complete, but far enough along that the truer figure is emerging. The process that Michelangelo used to carve marble is amazingly similar to the process of excavating the true self and knowing ourselves as God sees us.  If you are someone who is exhausted and desires to free your authentic self, here are a few questions to get you started.   

Are you currently living in your true identity?  Your true beauty? Who God created you to be?

What "excess" have you acquired in your life? 

What do you need to chisel away and break down to find the truest form of yourself?

What have you put around your true self?  What form does your cloaking come in?  The form of fear? Anger? Sadness? Denial? Others Expectations? Your High Expectations? Protection? Your past history?

Can you visualize yourself without this/these? 

What would you look like if Michelangelo chiseled away the heavy  facade? 

This week:
Try a visualization exercise, wherein you try to see the "excess" falling away, and see your authentic self emerging.  Once you see it, what do you look like?  Act like?  Can you remember a time when the facade was not in place?  When you were your authentic self?  What action steps can you take towards excavating your true beauty and living it out loud?  Repeat the visualization as often as you need.  This exercise is great inspiration for yourself!

"Our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace." - Psalm 144:12

"Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God?  Or am I trying to please men?  If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."- Galatians 1:10

"You are a light of the world like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see.  Don't hide your light under a basket!  Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all." - Matthew 5:14-15

"For we are God's masterpiece, He created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."- Ephesians 2:10