Opening Flowers

Have you ever watched the development of a rose from the tiny bud to the open flower? The bud held little more promise of beauty, than the foliage about it; but day by day it grew until it was full and round. One day you saw a thread of color promise of the rose to be, peeping through the covering of green. Each morning you saw the thread of color widening until the bud burst asunder and the flower was revealed. 

You looked upon this bursting bud with admiration and delight, though yet you did not see the rose in its full size and beauty. You had to wait until it was full grown and fully open, until it had reached its maturity, before you could behold the complete flower. But in the opening blossom you had the beauty of the mature rose blended with the grace and charm of the bud. Girlhood is the opening flower of womanhood. It has charmed all its own. 

The wonderful change from the child to the woman, the marvelous blossoming of young, healthy girlhood will ever be God's great miracle in life's garden. Like a half-open rose is girlhood. We are charmed, both by the beauty of the bud, and by the wonderful coloring of the rose. We behold the familiar traits of childhood that have always charmed us and held our affections but blended with these in ever-changing variety are the graces and powers of womanhood. 

Do you, dear girls, appreciate the golden days in which you are living? You have your perplexities and vexations, of course yet you are enjoying the merry, carefree days of youth, which are generally the happiest days of the whole life. You are standing "where the brook and river meet," where childhood's days and childhood's toys are put aside, for the greater things of womanhood. 

[Mabel Hale]

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Ecclesiastes 11:9 ...  Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

Proverbs 31:30 ... Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

1 Peter 3:3-4 ... Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. ❤

True Beauty

Every girl is a lover of beauty. Beautiful homes, beautiful furnishings, beautiful flowers, beautiful clothes, beautiful faces anything wherein beauty is found, there will be found girls to admire it. From the time her little hands can reach up, and her baby lips can lisp the words, she is admiring "pretty things." And when a little of that beauty is her own her pleasure is unbounded. 

Every girl longs to be beautiful. There is in woman a nature, as deep as humanity, which compels her to strive for good looks. There is no more forlorn sorrow for a young girl, than for her to be convinced that she is hopelessly ugly and undesirable. Oh, the bitter tears that have been shed over freckles, or blemished skin and the energy that has been expended in painting and powdering and waving and curling herself into beauty! A desire to be beautiful is not unwomanly. But, mark it: true beauty is not of the face but of the soul! 

There is a beauty so deep and lasting, that it will shine out of the homeliest face and make it lovely! This is the beauty to be first sought and admired. It is a quality of the mind and heart and is manifested in word and deed. A happy heart, a smiling face, loving words and deeds, and a desire to be of service will make any girl beautiful! A beautiful soul shining out of a homely face is far more attractive than a beautiful face out of which looks a soul full of selfishness and pride! 

Let your chief charm be of heart and mind not of face and form. Seek the true beauty which lasts even into old age! Solomon, in one of his wise sayings, plainly expressed the evil that comes to a woman who is beautiful of face, but lacks the true beauty of soul: "Like a gold ring in a swine's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion!" (Proverbs 11:22.) As the swine would plunge the golden jewel into the filth and the mire as he dug in the dirt so will a pretty woman who is not godly, drag her beauty down to the very lowest. 

There are many peculiar temptations to those who are only lovely of face. Without true beauty of soul, a pretty face is a dangerous gift! 

[Mabel Hale] 

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Proverbs 31:30 ...  Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

1 Peter 3:3-4 ... Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.❤