The Gospel of Mark 7:14-15 – “Then he called the crowd close to him again, and spoke to them, ‘Listen to me now, all of you, and understand this, There is nothing outside a man which can enter into him and make him ‘common’. It is the things which come out of a man that make him ‘common’.’ “

My mom used to say, beauty begins inside and spills out . . . and ugly does too. Maybe she was paraphrasing Jesus, maybe not. But what I remember from her words is this, my values inspire my thoughts and my thoughts inspire my actions and my actions, what the world sees, determine how I look, at least to my mom. How might you and I consider what is at the source of our values and thoughts? How might we pay attention to what’s inside so as it pours out it might commend us as beautiful and good or, as Jesus might say, wonderfully uncommon?