Read Proverbs 31:30

External beauty is ephemeral. Internal beauty is eternal. The former is attractive to the world; the latter is pleasing to God. 

Peter describes this inner beauty as a "gentle and quiet spirit" (1 Peter 3:4). This might be paraphrased "a gentle tranquillity." 

Without question, this is any woman's most powerful quality—true character. 

And such character comes from within—from the hidden person of the heart—because you know who you are and you know who you adore and serve, the Lord Christ.

Outward adornment doesn't take a great deal of time. I've seen women do it in a few minutes on their way to work in the morning.

But it takes a lifetime to prepare and develop the hidden person of the heart.

Excerpted from Charles R. Swindoll, Wisdom for the Way (Nashville: J. Countryman, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2001). Copyright © 2001 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.