The love of my life and our children are not beyond laughing at me when I cry at a commercial. I can't help it. From two little boys on an airplane who shared an Oreo without speaking the same language to the Irish Wolfhound dog whose soldier girl returns home and the joy is unspeakable.Yes, I'm going to cry...and not just the first time. True beauty moves me to tears.
They prefer the commercials like the how the blueberry marker gets it's fragrance for Mr. Sketch markers. Their laughter make me laugh. That is a rare kind of beauty, too. Laughter comes from the stirring of a soul. Sometimes...it is the absurd that stirs it.
Today, I was thinking about an Ann Voskamp quote. I discovered her recently . She, too, has been changed by gratitude. She started her gratitude journey a little before mine began and wrote an amazing book called "One Thousand Gifts". She writes...I think...with more adjectives than I do. I love it. She has this great thought on beauty.
“What if we wanted to be beautiful more than we wanted to buy beautiful?”
I come back to the reminder that man looks on the outside but the Lord looks at the heart. He sees more...knows more...gives more...loves more. His love is deep....wide...and ripples into infinity.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! Romans 11:33
I don't always get Him...but He is always good... and always beautiful.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. - Ecclesiastes 3:11
I think that we have been misdirected on the subject of beauty. For a those whose bodies have been scarred by cancer, war or an accident...they are a reminder of grace and even miracles. The grace that God has granted them more time... to live, laugh and love.
Someone once re-framed pregnancy stretch marks as a mother's medal's of honor. Wow! That is a different thought. Isn't it a stretch mark a physical reminder of the 9 months of cradling a God granted miracle within the womb? How can it be ugly?
Witnessing real poverty...it changes people. Why? Because it clears their vision. In the midst of real suffering...they see deep generosity. Those who have nothing...are sometimes the ones with the most generous hearts.
Jesus encountered many people in the Bible. The woman at the well...he invited her to drink from the Living Water that gives new life. The centurion...a soldier...he was amazed at his faith and moved that the man showed respect for Christ's power, authority and "rank". The fishermen...he invited to fish for something different. Mary and Martha...he invited them to be present and to live richly in the moment at his feet. The rich man...he instructed to let it go and leave it all behind. The rich man couldn't do it. He left sad.
Our culture teaches us to crave beauty...but not always real beauty. The false images that flash on the TV screen are deceiving. The child who has one pair of shoes know the beauty in a pair of shoes. I love shoes. I love shoes that sparkle. How can I crave more when some have none?
What about clean water? Some live in desperation...in search of clean water? Or...they have to walk miles to find it and carry it on their shoulders to the ones who cannot make the walk. Fresh water from a faucet...it is priceless!Well...I guess I needed a vision adjustment this morning. Let us not be deceived by the imitations all around.
Today, I am grateful our eyes that have the power to see beauty...real beauty.
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