Isn't He Lovely?

      I recently canvassed a youth group of tweens for a devotional I

was writing. I wanted to get their opinion on a certain word. “Okay,

guys,” I said, “How many out there use the word “lovely?” Extra points

if you can give me an example. No smart phones, please. Brains only.”


   Blank stares, then sniggers.


   Okay, so lovely isn’t a word young girls hear that often—much

less use in conversation. Oh, a girl might catch her grandmother calling

a summer’s day lovely. But, she wouldn’t tell her bff the pair of five-

inch heels with spikes she just bought are lovely. They may be cool,

awesome, or totally hot. But lovely….nah.


    Maybe, I thought, we can get some comments if I find out what

they think isn’t lovely.


     So I said, “Let’s try it this way: So was Miley Cyrus’s twerking

gyrations at the VMA awards, well, were they lovely?”


     “No,” my test group answered. (That’s a good start, I thought.)


     “Okay, okay, then, what if you saw a girl walking down the street

with short shorts on, and you could see more flesh than shorts, could you

say she looked “lovely?”


     “Ah… no,” the group replied. (Two for two, I thought.)


     “Okay, guys,” I said, “What about a reality show that has brides

throwing tantrums and cursing? Brides are supposed to be lovely aren’t

they?” I said. “So, by association, maybe we can call that show lovely?”


      “Nooooooo,” they all screamed. (Wow, now we’re cooking.)


     “Okay, so we know what’s not lovely. So what is lovely?


     “Something’s that lovely,” said one girl sauntering in with her

head in her smart phone (she wasn’t in the room to hear me ban them)

is ‘something that…or someone who…inspires love,’” she said, giving

us all the proper definition.


     “Spot on”, I said. “Can anyone give me an example? Who is

lovely? Who inspires love?”


     “Justine Timberlake,” A.J., a girl in the back, shouted out. Laughs

all around.


      “Not exactly who I was looking for,” I said.


     “Jesus,” one girl offered in a voice so low it was like a breath.


     “Jesus inspires love…doesn’t he?”


      “Bingo,” I screamed, a little louder than I anticipated.


      “’Lovely’ describes Jesus in every sense of the word,” I said.

Anybody know why?” (I was really reaching now.)”


     “Well,” said one girl, “Jesus died for us. He took our punishment.

That inspires love, doesn’t it?”


      “You bet,” I said, “Jesus was his loveliest on the cross. Because

he poured out all his love for us and made us lovely to God.”


      “Wow, I never thought of it that way,” one girl blurted out.


      “Okay,” I said. “Well now at least we know one person who is

lovely; who inspires love. Want to know some others?”


      “As long as it’s quick,” A.J. yelled out. The group cracked up.


      “Well, A.J., I’m here to tell you: YOU are lovely, and the girl

next to you, and everyone in this room is lovely in God’s eyes.


      “And that’s why we owe it to Jesus to act lovely,” I said. “Take

our cues from Jesus…not from stars, reality shows, books, and stuff

like that—which is anything but lovely.”


      “So no Miley Cyrus gyrations,” A.J. said. Again the group

laughed. “But, hey,” she said, “I think twerking’s pretty gross anyway.”


     “Glad to hear it A.J,” I said, as the group dispersed.


      “Oh, and Allia,” A.J. said, taking the last word. “Thanks. This

was lovely.”



Allia Zobel Nolan is author of

WHATEVER:LIVIN’ THE TRUE,

NOBLE, TOTALLY EXCELLENT LIFE,

a tween devo. The blog above based on page

180.