The Beauty Within - 1 Peter 3:3-4

(3) Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.  (4) Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross once said "It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us.  Rather, our concern must be to live while we're alive -- to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are."

I want you to experience wonder, enthusiasm, joy, and excitement as you travel through life.  You can't go back in time and change an event where you were dissatisfied and unhappy.  You can let go of anything that is holding you flat against the ground.  You deserve to be happy, fulfilled, loved and joyful.   Yours is a choice to be happy.  So be happy.  There are a great many ways to be fulfilled. Find those ways and embrace them. Smile.  Laugh.  Buy yourself some flowers, just because they're beautiful and you enjoy them. 
Speaking of flowers.... Last night I stopped by the grocery store on the way home from work.  I noticed some bunches of roses.  As I lingered there for a moment, I realized why they were on sale.  Some of them were beginning to age out and couldn't be sold for the original price.  I especially liked the yellow roses.  There was only one of them beginning to wilt.   The rest were gorgeous.  It was the only bunch of yellow roses so I picked them up and placed them in my shopping cart. 
As I strolled through the store, an older man of color commented on their beauty.  We exchanged pleasantries and he went on, humming a lovely tune as he left.  I had to wait a couple of minutes in line to check out and who appeared behind me, but the same man, still humming his happy tune.  He commented again to the clerk how beautiful were my roses. 
I decided then and there to give him my dozen roses.  I simply wanted him to have them.  I wondered if he had a wife at home.  I wondered what made him so happy that he was humming out loud as he did his shopping.  Upon paying my bill, I picked up the roses and turned to him.  I said with a smile "these roses are for you."  He was quite shocked at my words and spluttered that he couldn't possible take them.  I said "ok, how about taking one rose?"  He said "ok, I'll take one rose, but the rest are yours."  As I smiled at him and tugged at one rose, another came up from the bunch with it.  I told him "oh, look, another one is coming up with it.  You have to take both of them now."  The grin on his face was priceless.  He reached out his arm and gently gave me a polite hug.  I hugged him back and smiled as I left the store, the clerk and the older gentleman smiling, too.  I could feel them smiling as I left the store with my groceries. 
Long after the petals fall from his two yellow roses, he will remember that a lady he had never met before shared something of great beauty with him and asked for nothing in return.  Perhaps, later on, he will be in another store and see yellow roses and a beautiful memory will be rekindled.  Yes, there are still nice people in the world.  He was one of them.  It was my pleasure to be the vessel God used to bring roses to him.  Maybe he has a wife at home who was as surprised to hear his story as he was when he received them.  Maybe, he is a widower whose spirit is at peace with the world.  Maybe those two roses brought a ray of sunshine into his world.  Maybe.....
A beautiful bouquet of yellow roses....a beautiful thought....a beautiful gesture.....a beautiful gift....just because.....beautiful...