In our ministry to convalescent homes, we spend time up close and face-to-face with our seniors. I was particularly touched one Sunday when a senior grasped my face with both her hands and exclaimed how beautiful I was. To be honest, I hadn’t heard it in a long time (husband excluded here ).

You see, I am quite overweight and I don’t get a lot of attention from people, so an exclamation like this, delivered with such sincerity, really touched me. It’s happened several times since then and it never ceases to amaze me. There’s always that possibility that it could’ve been their failing eyesight, but I’ll take it for what it’s worth…

I had to get past the way people look when I entered into a convalescent home ministry in the first place. I remember when we first started the ministry my little son was only about five or six. He was terrified of the seniors at first because of the way they looked and we had long talks about that. He started out very afraid of death and growing old, but over time, he has looked past that and has started to greet the seniors more confidently.

Everytime we meet someone new, I think we should be asking ourselves an inner question, “Am I going to read the book or just enjoy the cover?” There are all kinds of obstacles to getting to know people on a heart-to-heart level, rather than just scratching the surface. We can scratch the surface all day and never come up with anything, but if we dig a little deeper, intentionally, and we delve into the inner beauty of people as we meet them, we get past the cover and find a book that’s worth reading.

There are some kinds of covers that I find hard to get past, but I sometimes have to push myself beyond them in order to find a good read. Sometimes it’s frightening because I have come up with all kinds of reasons why I shouldn’t be associating with this person, but God doesn’t see the covers of people. He see us from the inside out and He loves us anyway, and to be honest, sometimes our insides aren’t all that great. They are almost always worth reading, though.

Based on our own experiences in life, we all have a comfort zone, but stepping beyond that comfort zone and letting in people that we wouldn’t normally let in opens us up to some wonderful adventures. May all of our lives be filled with those kind of adventures!