I wrote this article several years ago on my way back to Canada from Finland. My husband and I had just spent a week with our friends from Canada who were also holidaying in Finland. This couple are true Christians, but they are not what some people expect to find in a Christian. They are a living example of what the grace of God can do.
Al spent most of his life behind penitentiary bars, much of the time in solitary confinement as he couldn't get along with anyone. He was a very angry, hardened criminal.
While in hospital with terminal cancer he met Kaarina. When she entered his hospital room, her first words were, "Jesus loves you". Al relates that if she had said anything else, he would have thrown her out. She prayed with him, he said the sinner's prayer and he asked Jesus to remain with him the rest of his life. They both speak about how the hospital room became charged with the glory of God and a deep peace settled upon both of them. It was a miracle! His cancer was healed and he was eventually pardoned.
When Kaarina first saw Al in that hospital room, she saw a beautiful human being underneath the face of this hardened criminal. It was only because she saw him in this way that she was able to marry him and work through his many problems. With the help of a strong deliverance minister, much prayer, and her unfailing devotion, God restored him to the sweet and kindly man he is today.
If Kaarina had made the judgment 'hardened criminal', he would still be one. Instead, the judgment was 'beautiful child of God' - and that is what she got!
If we label people as a 'critical person', 'a gossip' or 'stubborn', they remain just that way because we see them only by the label we have attached to them. They behave according to our expectations.
Instead of labelling a person, let us see his mistakes through the light of the cross of Jesus Christ. Let us not condemn him as a person who always does and always will react in a certain way, but let us see the good in him.
Very often our physical health suffers when we have made a severe judgment on someone and have never forgiven him. This is what the Bible means where it says, "Do not judge or you too will be judged" (Matt.7:1 NKJV). The judgment of God and man can fall in this world in many ways when we fail to forgive others. "The root of bitterness" is a root from which many of our problems sprout (Heb.12:15).
The philosopher, Santayana, said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This is another way of saying that the way we look at people gives us the picture of what they are. One person looks at a flower and sees a beautiful flower, another sees a 'too small flower because of the bad weather'. Beauty can be seen only by eyes which wish to see it! If we can see through the eyes of Jesus, we can see all mankind as His beautiful children.
It is now ten years since I first wrote this article. Since that time, Al has passed on, but we can be certain he has gone to be with Jesus. That is because his wife saw in him something beautiful, and he became that person. Indeed, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
© 1999, Doreen Palmer