Skin Is Only Beauty Deep

The world would have us believe, without doubt, the old proverb, “beauty is only skin deep.” For those who feel their outward appearance is more than lacking, this saying helps to falsely reassure us that those we believe are better looking than ourselves are possibly very ugly inside. To the handsome or beautiful person, this cliche, while mildly concerning, is only what ugly people say to make themselves feel better. Either way, we are placing far too much emphasis looking at each other with the wrong eyes.

I often find that if you want to fix something, it’s best to turn it inside-out. So, I propose we start by saying “skin is only beauty deep”. We all come to this earth in the same state of fragility, as tiny, helpless, wrinkly-skinned babies. We rely completely on our parents to survive infancy and early childhood. Our souls are just arrived to this new experience, and are still very much in their original form. It is no wonder that the scriptures remind the adult version of ourself to “becometh as a child”. Mosiah 3: 19 explains: “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”

While our earthly bodies are ours for a short time, our spirits are us for eternity. As the world strives for normalcy or sameness, we must come to know that we are not all the same. Each of us is an extremely unique person, inside and out. Our callings on this earth can be quite different, but we are each equally important to our Heavenly Father, as described in Luke 15:4, “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” If Heavenly Father can experience this kind of anxiety over each one of us, shouldn’t we feel the same for each other, our brothers and sisters? “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” (1 John 4:7). And conclusively, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” (1 John 4:11).

There is no place in this life for comparing ourselves to others. When we compare ourselves to others, it’s like trying to compare a boot to a bell. Each is designed for its own use and purpose. As much as you might try to ring a boot, or wear a bell on your foot, it just can’t be done. We must realize that we each are in unique phases of our progression, just as the steps of making a bell and constructing a boot are widely different. We can, though, agree to be inspired by the strengths of one another, and to rightfully overlook the faults with love and patience. "God will help us see a difference in someone else not as a source of irritation but as a contribution. The Lord can help you see and value what another person brings which you lack. More than once the Lord has helped me see His kindness in giving me association with someone whose difference from me was just the help I needed. That has been the Lord’s way of adding something I lacked to serve Him better." (Henry B. Eyring, “Our Hearts Knit as One,” Ensign, Nov. 2008, 70–71).

If “skin is only beauty deep”, meaning that our temporal flesh is nothing more than a vehicle for our spiritual mission, how do we become filled with beauty? Perhaps the key to the biggest beauty secret of all eternity lies not in a glamorous woman’s magazine, but in a child’s primary song. Every Star is Different begins with the lyrics, “Ev’ry star is diff’rent, And so is ev’ry child. Some are bright and happy, And some are meek and mild. Ev’ry one is needed For just what he can do. You’re the only person Who ever can be you.” The first step, then, would be to realize that we are each different, that we each have our own calling and purpose. Of dual importance, we should respect and love others.

We are instructed many times throughout the scriptures to become like Christ. In truth, he has told us, “Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live;” (3 Nephi 15:9). It is commonly known that Jesus came to this world in humble appearance and circumstance. While there was nothing extraordinarily handsome about his outward features, it is difficult to recall a painting of him that doesn’t shine with the great dignity and spiritual beauty radiating from his countenance. That is the beauty and the inward light that we must recreate within ourselves.

The chorus reiterates the need for the light within, “A shining star, shining brightly, Not so very far, shining brightly; Be a shining star. Shine so brightly; Shine right where you are, brightly!” Ralph Waldo Emerson told us in his essay Nature that, “There is no object so foul that intense light will not make beautiful.” Christ, the light of the world, has made it possible for us, no matter how foul we may be, to become beautiful. “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:” (2 Timothy 1:10). Doctrine and Covenants breaks down for us what the “light” of Christ really means. “For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” (D&C 84:45). “Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made.” (D&C 88:7).

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7). To truly follow Christ, we must walk in the light, which is the truth. We must live the truth, we must share the truth, and as we do, we will become a pure testimony of him. We will find happiness as we strive to love and care for one another. The final stanza of the primary song rings true, “I can shine for others And let them feel my love, Follow the commandments That come from God above. I can help another To learn to choose the right. Having faith and courage Will let my star shine bright.” These lyrics echo the words from Luke 11: 33-36, “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.” The light of the body is the eye, or our understanding. When our understanding is single to the glory of God, we begin to grow full of the light and the beauty that our souls are capable of. It is then that we know that our skin is truly only a vessel for the deep beauty and light we hold inside.

“I bear my testimony of this beauty in Christ. I know that when I’ve had some hard times in my life and wasn’t doing things right, I felt very ugly. When I started going back to church and striving to live the light of Christ daily, I had many people tell me that I was beautiful. I know in my heart that this beauty was more than my make-up, clothing, or hairstyle. It was a reflection of the calm radiance I felt inside, and the happiness that I had found. I now know that no amount of physical enhancement will help me throughout my day in the way that prayer and scripture study will. I testify to you of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Light.