I absolutely adore my wedding ring. My husband designed it himself and every time I see it, I feel special and giddy and loved. When my husband proposed three and a half years ago, I remember treating my ring like it was the Holy Grail. I was so careful to take it off for everything- washing my hands, stirring soup, styling my hair…I was committed to keeping it sparking and bright. As time went on I became more relaxed and noticed myself slathering on lotion, cooking dinner and even working out with my ring on. I observed that when my ring is clean, people are drawn to it. It’s like a light and people compliment me to the point that I often find myself thanking the Lord that a piece of jewelry could bring so much joy. Over time, it still looked nice and pretty, but it didn’t look anything like when I first slid that beauty onto my finger and truly protected it. This really got me thinking the other day, There is something so irresistible about us as believers and as women when we shine from the inside out, rather than trying to make our outside do what it was never intended to do.

You see, when I noticed my ring had been dulled, I set aside some time to clean the diamonds. I used the little microfiber scrubber, careful not to miss a single stone. I soaked it in a special solution and polished it up expecting it to look just as beautiful as I remembered it in all its glory, only to find it was still dull. Confused, I showed my husband and asked how it could just be so cloudy when I just spent an hour cleaning it! Turning the ring upside down, he showed me that if the base of the diamond was dirty (guys, it was pretty gross…) then it could never reflect purely. I had to take the ring to a professional so he could carefully clean the part of the diamond we don’t see in order for the part we do see to shine the way it was intended to.

So often, we focus on our external beauty, letting our inner selves get away with things here and there until before we know it, we are unrecognizable. We may look pretty, but our spark is lost because something underneath needs to be thoroughly transformed. Just as I was scrubbing away at the top of the diamond expecting that to take care of the dull shine, we are putting so much pressure on our external beauty to make us desirable. The secret is: it will never work. At some point the choice must be made to hand ourselves over to a professional to be cleansed from the inside out. I challenge you to sit in the presence of the Lord and ask Him to cleanse you. To cleanse your mind, cleanse your desires, cleanse your words and cleanse your heart. Ask Him to show you the residue that is dulling your shine so you can let your physical beauty just be a vessel for your inner light to pour out. You will be absolutely irresistible. That is a promise.