She Shall Be Praised

The harsh truth is she was difficult to look at. I have long since learned not to judge any one as ugly, but to this immature seventh-grader's eyes, that is what "Lindsey" was. To compensate for that, Lindsey developed an enviable personality--so enviable that it gained her admittance to a five-member clique of her popular, attractive classmates.

A boys' choice dance was only two weeks away, and all of Lindsey's friends had dates. They would be accompanied by teacher-chaperones.

So it was that one afternoon I found myself surrounded by Lindsey's associates. That was unsettling, unaccustomed as I was to female attention. My unease escalated when the prettiest of the party addressed me, brilliant blue eyes riveting me to my locker.

"Hi, Paul," she said in a voice of alluring loveliness. "You know about the dance, don't you?" I nodded nervously, perceiving a plot. "We've heard you don't have a date, right?" I nodded again. "Well, Lindsey doesn't have a date either (five sets of beseeching eyes were now eclipsing me). It would be nice if you would ask Lindsey to the dance, wouldn't it? Huh?" The other girls nodded assent, and moved closer.

Clearly, a growing-up opportunity had arrived, in full, formidable force. To begin with, I couldn't dance. But the thought of going with Lindsey muddled my mind. I knew, the callowness of my years notwithstanding, that I was being invited to render a selfless service . . . to do the Christ-like thing . . . to be bigger than myself.

I have repressed the memory of my muttered, mealy response. It amounted to an apology followed by a disinclination. Even as the girls were withdrawing, guilt was growing within me. I had rejected an invitation to show love to a worthy "sister" on the guileful ground that she wasn't physically attractive. Shame enshrouded me.

Isaiah's words, using the Savior as an example, instruct us about the folly of judging people on physical appearance: He hath no . . . comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him (Isaiah 53:2).

For our Savior, it was the heart--the inner person--that mattered. His admonishments to the Pharisees and their followers are foreshadowed in Proverbs 31:30: Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

The tutoring of the years has taught me the surpassing truth of the Redeemer's doctrine. I have come to understand that Lindsey was beautiful to He who matters most, because all of us are His children, and He sacrificed His Son for us in an atonement that was unconditional and with a love that was without parallel.

Might a dance be held in heaven? There is someone I hope will accompany me.

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