Ever since she was a little girl, Lily lost herself in the eyes of others. Everywhere she looked, she saw beauty beyond imagination. The highest beauty, the biggest splendor she found in the eyes of other people. Their eyes were the windows to their soul. Peering through these windows, seeing behind the curtains, Lily saw the delightful essence present behind people’s eyelids. Everyone in this world had beautiful eyes. Everyone except Lily. 

When Lily looked in the mirror, she didn’t see the beauty she saw in others. When she looked at her own eyes, Lily saw bland and colorless eyes. When she looked behind her own eyelids, she saw mediocrity and inferiority. Everyone else’s eyes appeared special, but her own eyes, the eyes that looked at themselves appeared simply average. There was nothing special about Lily’s eyes. That is what Lily thought. Sadly, that was how everyone else thought. 

Oftentimes Lily complimented the eyes of others. She admired the different shades of brown, blue and green which radiated their charm unto the world. The emerald eyes particular hypnotized her soul every time she saw them. Although she complimented people oftentimes on their beautiful eyes, her compliments were never reciprocated. Nobody liked Lily’s eyes. Not even her own husband. 

She loved her husband with all her heart. But even he found nothing special in Lily’s eyes. He loved Lily despite her eyes. But Lily loved her husband because of his eyes. She never told her husband why she married him, for if she did, she would have appeared shallow in her husband’s eyes. Lily married her husband because his eyes were always changing their colors. Her husband had the most special eyes in the world. 

Every time she looked into her husband’s eyes, she saw a different shade od a different color. The color was changing because of her husband’s mood, or maybe because of the weather. Every time she looked into his eyes, she saw different eyes and thus a different beautiful soul. Lily wished her eyes to be as beautiful as her husband’s eyes. But they were not. Their children inherited the eyes from their father’s side, so everyone in the family had beautiful eyes. Everyone except Lily. 

Lily wished for nothing more in this world than to have beautiful eyes. That was her greatest wish that forever remained unfulfilled. Oftentimes, in the late nights, when everyone was sleeping, Lily remained awake. She couldn’t sleep for she cried tears for the beautiful eyes she craved. She cried tears of sorrow ever since her youth. She had cried so much that all her tears perhaps drained all the colors from her own eyes. Perhaps it was her tears that removed all the beautiful colors from her eyes.

She drenched in tears. She cried for years and years. She drowned all these years. Until…

Until one spring day, an angel descended from the heavens to impart some truth onto her woeful soul. The angel came to the Earth to heal her broken heart. The angel came to shed some light onto the wounded flower. 

“I have come from the heavens, my child,” said the angel “to share the truth with you. I am bringing a message to you so that you finally learn about your beautiful faith.”

“Long time ago, when your own mother was about to give birth to you, I paid her a visit. I visited her to ask what would be her wish for her newborn daughter. Angels always visit the newborns to grant one wish to mothers of the new unborn soul.”

“Your mother thought for days. She knew that she would name you Lily after the beautiful flower, but she didn’t know what gift to gift to you. Your mother wanted to gift you the best gift possible. After thinking hard and long, she told me to grant to her unborn daughter the most beautiful eyes in the whole world. I have fulfilled her wish. Your eyes, dear Lilly are the most beautiful eyes in the world.”

Lily couldn’t believe what she is seeing. At that moment, she believed her own ears more than her own eyes for it was the first time she ever saw an angel. She was unsure if she is dreaming or hallucinating. She wanted to believe the angel, but she had many doubts. 

“I wish I had the most beautiful eyes, my angel. That has always been my greatest wish. But nobody has said that they see any beauty in my eyes. Not even my own husband. How could my eyes be the most beautiful when nobody likes my eyes?”

“Oh, my child,” said the angel “the most beautiful eyes in the world and not the eyes that others deem to be beautiful. The most beautiful eyes in the world are the ones that see beauty everywhere.”

“Your eyes see beauty that none others can see. How can others compliment you when they can’t see the beauty that only you see. Your beautiful soul through your beautiful eyes sees beauty everywhere. All others see only ugliness.”

At last, the angel said: “Your mother, after seeing the beauty of a lily, she wanted to gift her daughter the most beautiful eyes, so that her Lily will see the greatest beauty when she looked at a lily.”

Those were the last words that the angel spoke that day. The angel disappeared into the ether from which it came. The angel disappeared, but the truth that he shared with Lily remained with her forever. That crucial spring day, for the first time in her life, Lilly saw through her beautiful eyes the beauty of her own eyes.

Ever since that warm spring day, when the winds roared and the flowers bloomed, when Lily gazed at the eyes of others, she saw the beauty of her own eyes. There she found the warmth that was melting her own heart. Through the illuminating sun rays, she looked into the meadows of the blooming lilies. Into the blooming beautiful flowers, she saw the beauty of the flowers reflected through her eyes.

It was her beautiful faith that only her eyes can see the beauty of the lilies. Only Lily could see the true beauty of a lily. 

Can you see the beauty of a lily?