Scripture

“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end” (Eccl. 3:11).

Preparation

Ask the women to bring photos of themselves in a period of their life when they felt most beautiful. This may be a current photo or one from the past.

Room Set Up

Be as simple or elaborate as you like. This would be a great week to invite new women. Adorn tables with fresh flowers to make the room beautiful. Candles and tablecloths can also bring a simple and elegant beauty to the room.

Refreshments

Plan a potluck and ask the women to bring food to share.

Activity Ideas

Color Me Beautiful

Provide printouts of coloring pages printed with Ecclesiastes 3:11 at the top. There are some free versions online and others available for a small fee. Spread out a variety of crayons, markers and colored pencils. Give the women the opportunity to color their pages. Remind them that there is no right way and that beauty is unique to each one of us. This is a fun activity that allows the women to continue enjoying fellowship with those around them.

I Am Beautiful

Find a local Mary Kay or Avon representative, or a local cosmetologist who would be willing to donate some time. Ask them to do make-overs or manicures for the women. Allow the women to choose which they feel most comfortable participating in.

A Beautiful Bonnet

Purchase plain hats and embellishments—flowers, ribbon, jewels, netting. Invite the women to decorate their hat using a hot glue gun. While the women work on their hats play the song, “You Make Beautiful Things” by Gungor (available on YouTube). When their hats are finished, invite them to walk down the “runway” in the middle of your room to the song “Gold,” by Britt Nicole.

Beautiful You

Give each woman a moment or two to show the photo they brought and explain why they chose it. If you have a group larger than six, split into smaller groups and have the women share with those in their group. Some of the women may have been reluctant to share a photo feeling that they are not beautiful. Remind them of 1 Peter 3:3–4, “Do not let your beauty come from the outside. It should not be the way you comb your hair or the wearing of gold or the wearing of fine clothes. Your beauty should come from the inside. It should come from the heart. This is the kind that lasts. Your beauty should be a gentle and quiet spirit. In God’s sight this is of great worth and no amount of money can buy it.” To God we are all beautiful, no matter what stage of life we are in.

Beautiful

The verse that was chosen for today’s devotion comes from a passage in Scripture that is well known. It tells us in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” Solomon (who wrote Ecclesiastes) then goes through a list of living, dying, beauty and pain to tell us that there is a time for everything. And though everything has its own time, God has made everything beautiful, in its own way, for its own time.

Here on earth, we value a certain standard of beauty. Beaches and mountains are nearly unanimously declared beautiful, while deserts, in the opinion of many, lack beauty. Youth is prized and many people spend large sums of money to hold onto that “youthful glow” for as long as possible. Aging is not valued nearly as highly.

It’s important to remember that everything is beautiful in its own time; but even more, Scripture tells us, that we cannot see the whole scope of God’s work. In every season and stage of life, God is working—even if we don’t understand exactly what He is doing.

Today as we enjoy our fellowship together, let us remember that God has larger things at work than we can perceive. As we learned when we shared with one another earlier, we all see beauty in different ways and God has made all things beautiful in their own time. Most important of all, He works through the good and the bad, the old and the young—even if things don’t look beautiful by every person’s standard in that moment.