When I lived in Afghanistan, I learned just enough Farsi to get by. Having studied several foreign languages, I always enjoyed learning idioms that were unique to its linguistic culture. One Farsi expression I found to be delightful was “Your eyes are beautiful.” The counterpart expression in English is probably “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” I prefer the Afghan version.
The Afghan idiom your eyes are beautiful means you have a wonderful way of looking at things. While the English idiom focuses on the arbitrary beauty of the object, the Afghan expression focuses on the viewer’s capacity for seeing beauty. My wife Altha has cultivated these BEAUTIFUL EYES.
In this fallen world, we must all cultivate BEAUTIFUL EYES. It is too easy to see the imperfections in people. It is harder to see the invisible work God is doing in them (Phil. 2:13). The same can be said about circumstances (Ro. 8:28). The only way you will ever acquire BEAUTIFUL EYES is to develop eyes of faith, to see people and circumstance as God does—seeing through God’s eyes. With your BEAUTIFUL EYES, you will be able to see God (Mat. 5:8)—and you will see that the whole earth is full of His glory (Is. 6:3).
Do you arbitrarily and subjectively assess ‘beauty’? Or do you have BEAUTIFUL EYES?
… A pure eye lets sunshine into your soul (Mat. 6:22 NLT).
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