Radiant Beauty

Radiant Beauty

Let all that I am praise the LORD;may I never forget the good things he does for me. . . .He redeems me from deathand crowns me with love and tender mercies.He fills my life with good things.My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

Psalm 103:2, 4-5

I was a young high school English teacher desperate to gain all the wisdom I could in order to survive the school year. Because of this, I gravitated toward older women who worked at my school, knowing I badly needed the insight, counsel, and wisdom they could offer from their years of experience.

I approached Sandy shortly after I met her. She was new to town, and I overheard her saying she used to meet with a teacher from her former school to walk and pray each morning. That’s it! I thought. I asked her if we could walk and pray together, which she readily agreed to do.

Sandy was in her midfifties, but she was one of the most radiant women I had ever seen. Not only was she beautiful, but she reached out to students and faculty in a fearless, unself-conscious way. After walking our laps in the gym and praying one morning, I asked her, “How did you get to be so radiant? You look like a woman in her thirties instead of her fifties!”

Sandy’s face looked thoughtful as she answered, “Well, I had a difficult childhood and a wild young adulthood. When I became a Christian as a grown woman, I asked God to restore the years of my youth. He did!” She tilted back her head and laughed her short, bubbly laugh.

Then she paused and looked at me, saying with a mischievous grin, “And always drink eight glasses of water a day!”

—Erin Hobbie

Lord, thank you for having the power and compassion to restore our youth. Help us to learn to be radiant people who reflect your glory. Amen.