Six Steps to a Beautiful Countenance

By Violet Nesdoly

Are you happy with how you look? Or do you often stand in front of the mirror sighing, "If only..." If only my forehead weren't so high or so low; my lips were fuller, thinner or shaped differently; I could get rid of these birthmarks and warts; I had thicker hair; I could afford braces, contact lenses, a facelift...

Throughout history, woman have admired and desired beauty. We moderns are no exception. What defines beauty, however, is constantly changing.

During the Renaissance, for example, upper-class north European women valued a high forehead and went through painful plucking of hairlines to get it. During the time of Elizabeth I, the English lady who wanted to be beautiful copied her queen by powdering her face white (with lead-based powder no less!) and wearing a red wig. In the eighteenth century, women influenced by the likes of Marie-Antoinette spent several hours at a time at their hair stylists, coming away with extravagant coiffures built over horsehair pads or wire cages (some as high as three feet with springs built in to adjust the height).

Beauty trends in the past century have continued to change from the bobbed hair, pale makeup and scarlet cupid-bow mouth of the 1920s; to the teased beehives (for women) and greased pompadours (for men) of the 50s; to the long-haired, no-makeup look of the 60s; to the wind-blown, bronze-skinned, glossy-lipped look of the 70s; to today's unkempt and multicolored hair accompanied by facial piercings and body tattoos.

But before you dash from your mirror to the store, salon, or surgical clinic to change your face or hair to conform to the latest fashion, consider looking to another source for advice on loveliness. The following six-step Bible facial can be applied to everyone, with results guaranteed at any age:

1.	Start with a deep cleansing. ("I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean...I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you..." - Ezekiel 36:25-27)
2.	As a foundation, cover the entire face with the wholesome attitude of your inner life. ("Your beauty... should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is of great worth in God's sight..." - I Peter 3:3-4)
3.	Apply wisdom to soften facial lines. ("Wisdom brightens a man's [and woman's!] face and changes its hard appearance." - Ecclesiastes 8:1)
4.	Contour with sorrow to emphasize your compassionate features. ("Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart." - Ecclesiastes 7:3)
5.	Highlight with happiness. ("A happy heart makes the face cheerful..." - Proverbs 15:13)
6.	Maintain with a diet high in yieldedness to the Holy Spirit for continued God-shine. ("And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord, the Spirit." - 2 Corinthians 3:18)

Stick with the above routine and your countenance will be beautiful no matter what the features of your face or style of your hair. Best of all - this beauty is permanent; it will remain even when gray hair, wrinkles, and age spots have come to stay.

Violet Nesdoly lives in Surrey, B.C. She works with words in both of her day jobs - medical transcription and freelance writing. She has had fiction, non-fiction and poetry published in a variety of magazines, Sunday school papers and web sites. Visit her on the web at: members.shaw.ca/vnesdoly
or at her blog "promptings": vnesdoly.blogspot.com