You are more beautiful than you think.

My husband loves You Tube.  I am amazed at how much time he can spend watching videos on that site.  Yesterday, I was in a hurry and when he asked me to come in and watch a video I was irritated.  I'm glad I took my toothbrush into the living room and multi-tasked.  Below is the long version of the video he showed me.  Please watch it, it's beautiful, challenging and uplifting.

This is what art is supposed to do.  This is what we are supposed to do for each other.  Community means helping each other to heal, to be whole.  Community means bringing each other before the kinder, more honest mirror of God.  I love Dove's ad campaigns, but I want to be this kind of friend for my community.

I have the privilege of knowing some truly beautiful women - in every way that you may define the word beautiful.  All of us do.  Sing their praises, tell them, tell other people.

Know that YOU are that truly beautiful person in someone else's life.  

When I was in Botswana, I met a beautiful woman.  She had spent the majority of her life eking out a life, with her husband, in the Kalahari Desert.  The Kalahari is a breathtaking place.  I loved visiting there, and always left renewed.  But it is the Desert.  Not the desert with a lot of irrigation, crops and livestock.  The Desert.  In this picture, you can see some green on the trees.  Africa's trees are miracles, and can find water. But there are few trees in this area.  She had made this her home, and for her that meant becoming a part of the lives of many people.  Taking in local single mothers, giving them jobs, loving on their kids.

I was at her "camp" when I got the news that my Papa died.  There was no way for me to get home, or even to the states.  I could barely get a phone call out to my Mama.  I'll never forget this woman coming and hugging me, talking to me quietly.  I was one of many in her campsite, and we had never spoken before.  She had lost her husband that year, and she knew that I was hurting.

I've never forgotten her, and I don't even know her name.

You are more beautiful than you think.

KTV