The Show of Countenance

What do people see when they look at you?  Not just glance as you walk past, but if they got a good opportunity to speak with you face to face for a minute or two or more, what would they be able to discern?  What do they see when they look me full in the face?

Our countenance is a reflection of what lies inside.  There is only so much pretending a person can do.  I have been told that I shouldn't wear my heart on my sleeve, but really, we all wear our souls right on our faces!

Who do you want to be?  Who do you want the world to see you as?

I was reading Isaiah chapter 3 today, and what I found resonated deeply with me.  Nephi quotes Isaiah, and I'm pulling my quote from him,

"The show of their countenance doth witness against them...they cannot hide it.  Wo unto their souls, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves!"  (2 Nephi 13)

As I read that, I thought of Alma's address in Alma chapter 5 about the righteous, in direct contrast to Isaiah's observation of the wicked.

"And now, behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God?  Have ye received his image in your countenances?  Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?"

Christ put it this way in His sermon on the mount,

"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matt. 6)

Have you ever met someone dark like that?  Conversely, have you ever met someone that seemed so full of goodness that they seemed to glow?  I have on a few occasions.  When I met Elder Bednar and talked with his wife, I felt her goodness.  I had an experience singing in the Vancouver Temple dedication that I shared on this blog, seeing President Monson's daughter, who was like a queen to me because she was radiant!  The full story is linked here.

There are the extremes, and we probably fall somewhere in the middle.  In a world of selfies and endless opportunities to post ourselves in social media, who is the woman or man that the world gets to see?  Do you want to look catty, sexy, proud?  Do you ever want to look humble, full of love and the light of Christ?  Do your friends ever get to see this version of you?  Do you have any amount of "deep beauty" in your plethora of selfies?  Deep beauty is a concept that I'm borrowing from Sister Elaine Dalton, former YW General President.  She says:

"Deep beauty—the kind of beauty that shines from the inside out. It is the kind of beauty that cannot be painted on, surgically created, or purchased. It is the kind of beauty that doesn’t wash off. It is spiritual attractiveness. Deep beauty springs from virtue. It is the beauty of being chaste and morally clean. It is the kind of beauty that you see in the eyes of virtuous women like your mother and grandmother. 
It is a beauty that is earned through faith, repentance, and honoring covenants."

When I kneel before the Lord today in prayer, and He looks down on me, will He see any bit of His image in my countenance?  Will the world ever see Him there?