Beautiful...

28 Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her: Good morning! You're beautiful with God's beauty, Beautiful inside and out! God be with you.
29 She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that.30 But the angel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear.

God has a surprise for you

I like it that Gabriel gave her a compliment first. I had meeting this morning with seniors for their presentation come May. I knew some would sleep in and I was right. One came in...bowing in a fake apology. Then as I was telling him he was late...he said ..."You are beautiful, Mrs. Price". Give a compliment true or not...somehow makes the message or the excuse better. That's what the student was hoping...maybe so was Gabriel.

You , Mary, have nothing to fear... God has a surprise for you! What followed was the biggest surprise EVER! What could she have known or understood? Common Jewish teenage girl we always say, maybe on the outside, but God knew something about her on the inside. Beautiful...he called her, inside and out. Was that enough? What difference was it that she was beautiful?
God's beauty... takes your breath away, God's beauty humbles you, God's beauty defines what is awesome. God loves beautiful ...it's His signature.

Be careful...He defines beauty, we don't. When we look out ..the mountains, sunrise, flower, ocean, stars, God's beauty is spectacular. When God calls you beautiful, that says something.

When we look inside; joy, kindness, peace, patience, goodness, humility, forgiveness, gentleness...
spectacular beauty!
Mary...she was something else in all her normal humanity.
So are we when we reflect God's signature.