The Beauty of Beauty
One of my very favorite things to talk about and write about is beauty. Beauty of people, the mountains I'm surrounded by, the beauty of love. The beauty everywhere. I can't help it. When I get started, it's hard to shut it down. The joy I experience bubbles up and over and it's such a lovely mess.
Shift for a second to the opposite end of the spectrum. The other day at work, one of my partners asked if I was a glass half full or half empty kind of person. I had to stop for a second. I knew what answer I wanted to give him. But I knew if I told him that, I would be lying. So I looked him in the eye and told him, somewhat shamefully, that I'm a glass half-empty kind of person. Actually, I pretty much always have been. Can't say exactly why...
How can I possibly be both of those things? Well I can't, at least not at once. It's the struggle between my flesh and my spirit that is waging constantly. Sometimes I have no idea how to deal with it, so I just don't deal with it at all.
At work, for example, it is easy to get stressed out over the smallest things. Suddenly I'm short employees, I'm doing four positions by myself. Some customer is yelling at me because he can't read his receipt or his coffee hasn't come out fast enough. Some days it's just a million little things that add up, like running out of sugar and cups, that make it hectic. More often than not I let these things totally ruin my shift, and sometimes my whole day. Ridiculous, right? If one thing goes wrong then the whole thing has to go wrong, at least in my brain.
I realized today that the Lord begs me every day to see the beauty and the goodness and the kindness He gives me in every moment. He asks me to look for the beauty that I so love. This whole time, even though I focus on the negative, He has been telling me that the glass half full person I want to be is right there waiting for me to take it. Those days when I have issues at work, I can choose to focus on the good, like my wonderful team or the lady who complimented the taste of the latte I made her. Instead of focusing on the things I don't like about myself or the discontent I have in my life, I can choose to look past that to the beauty of the state I live in and embrace the opportunities to go explore it. I can pick myself a mass bouquet of wildflowers if I want or just sit and watch people at my favorite restaurant. I can enjoy the beauty in art and the joy I get from creating it.
I can sit for hour at the feet of my exquisite Savior as I get to know His character. His nature is beauty. The love I have for beauty came from Him so what better place to enjoy it than with Him? After all, He is the one that created flowers and bubbling laughter and moving water and friendship. He created music and families and chocolate and swing sets. He created glorious, spectacular, wonderful books. He created hiking shoes and sunshine. There is so much joy and beauty to be seen in throwing your head back and basking with laughter in His love. It's like sunshine warm on your skin and you start to get all tingly, like in those moments right before a sunburn. It's beauty in its purest form. Why, when I have all of this beauty to focus on, would I choose the negativity that ruins me, my day, and the people around me? Why wouldn't I focus on the beauty that God places right in front of me every single day? It's like a scavenger hunt and every time we find something and enjoy it, God smiles at our joy and whispers, "That was for you. I gave you that to show you how much I love you." And His Father-Love beams from His face and His heart, we just have to open our eyes enough to see it.
Shift for a second to the opposite end of the spectrum. The other day at work, one of my partners asked if I was a glass half full or half empty kind of person. I had to stop for a second. I knew what answer I wanted to give him. But I knew if I told him that, I would be lying. So I looked him in the eye and told him, somewhat shamefully, that I'm a glass half-empty kind of person. Actually, I pretty much always have been. Can't say exactly why...
How can I possibly be both of those things? Well I can't, at least not at once. It's the struggle between my flesh and my spirit that is waging constantly. Sometimes I have no idea how to deal with it, so I just don't deal with it at all.
At work, for example, it is easy to get stressed out over the smallest things. Suddenly I'm short employees, I'm doing four positions by myself. Some customer is yelling at me because he can't read his receipt or his coffee hasn't come out fast enough. Some days it's just a million little things that add up, like running out of sugar and cups, that make it hectic. More often than not I let these things totally ruin my shift, and sometimes my whole day. Ridiculous, right? If one thing goes wrong then the whole thing has to go wrong, at least in my brain.
I realized today that the Lord begs me every day to see the beauty and the goodness and the kindness He gives me in every moment. He asks me to look for the beauty that I so love. This whole time, even though I focus on the negative, He has been telling me that the glass half full person I want to be is right there waiting for me to take it. Those days when I have issues at work, I can choose to focus on the good, like my wonderful team or the lady who complimented the taste of the latte I made her. Instead of focusing on the things I don't like about myself or the discontent I have in my life, I can choose to look past that to the beauty of the state I live in and embrace the opportunities to go explore it. I can pick myself a mass bouquet of wildflowers if I want or just sit and watch people at my favorite restaurant. I can enjoy the beauty in art and the joy I get from creating it.
I can sit for hour at the feet of my exquisite Savior as I get to know His character. His nature is beauty. The love I have for beauty came from Him so what better place to enjoy it than with Him? After all, He is the one that created flowers and bubbling laughter and moving water and friendship. He created music and families and chocolate and swing sets. He created glorious, spectacular, wonderful books. He created hiking shoes and sunshine. There is so much joy and beauty to be seen in throwing your head back and basking with laughter in His love. It's like sunshine warm on your skin and you start to get all tingly, like in those moments right before a sunburn. It's beauty in its purest form. Why, when I have all of this beauty to focus on, would I choose the negativity that ruins me, my day, and the people around me? Why wouldn't I focus on the beauty that God places right in front of me every single day? It's like a scavenger hunt and every time we find something and enjoy it, God smiles at our joy and whispers, "That was for you. I gave you that to show you how much I love you." And His Father-Love beams from His face and His heart, we just have to open our eyes enough to see it.
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