Looks Ain't Anything

Post #2

Looks Ain’t Anything

I started a web page this week.  It's fairly amateur-ish because, I am kind of an amateur.  Check it out at             

                          www.billanddianenelson.com

if you would like to see what we look like.  It's not that I am vain. In fact, if you don't care what we look like, I'll just tell you that we are quite a striking couple.  So, now you don't have to look. 

Now that I've brought it up though, I imagine you will be forced to look. So, let me just prepare you with this great quote that I read the other day:  

"People are like stained glass windows -- the true beauty can be seen only when there is light from within. The darker the night, the brighter the windows.

-       Elizabeth Kubler-Ross - (studies in near-death    

-                                                                           experiences)

Bill and I both turn 60 this year.  You really can’t expect us to look as good as we did 40 years ago.  I wish I could say that we initially got together because we saw that beautiful light in each other, but the truth is, it was probably more carnal. 

No matter.  I’ve always believed that God intervened to bring us together anyway.  I believe that about most couples. Certainly, if we had been more mature and thoughtful, the people we were then would have made both of us run away from a second date.   

That light within has to be cultivated.  Conquering our weaknesses is what turns the flame up.  I like the scripture in the Book of Mormon that reminds us that we all have weaknesses and that there is a place for weakness in our spiritual progress:

“If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (Ether 12:27).

In my thinking, finding someone who is humble enough to admit that they need to work on their own shortcomings and who will also allow you to do the same without reminding you of what a screw-up you were just last week, is all you need to keep a relationship together.   Even serious faults can eventually be overcome if they are honestly faced head on.  And if you are lucky enough to have a spouse who encourages and motivates you to keep working at your weakness until it becomes a strength, what greater bond can two people have?

So, about that beauty thing;   I can’t say it better than Jacqueline Bisset once said, “We all lose our looks eventually. Better develop your character and interest in life.”   

Still, if you’re like me, I like to see what the talk radio host I am listening to looks like, whether the author of the book I’m reading looks like a friend or a Wall Street activist, and whether the person whose writing this blog has black hair or is bald.  It just enriches the communication somehow.

So, go have a look.