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Monday Meditations - Beauty


Bearuty

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." That is so very true. What one person sees as gorgeous another person only sees as ugliness. Sometimes only a mother can see the beauty in a picture a child draws. Sometimes it's not actually the artwork itself it's the heart behind it.

I remember after my mom passed away us kids were helping my dad go through some things when we came across the Christmas decorations. We begged my dad to let us throw away the ones we had made while we were children – you know those over-glittered, over-glued paper items, and the angel who lost her Styrofoam head more times than was respectable for any angel. My dad didn't object. It wasn't that he didn't love us or our creations; he just wasn't as attached to them as Mom was. Moms see beauty more than dads do.

I love the snow during the winter. We don't get a lot here in Virginia, but growing up in New York there was no shortage of it. I posted a picture of our last snowfall on Facebook recently and said it was pretty. Not everyone agreed with me. While our puny amount would be melted in the next day's 60° temperatures, my New York friends, who were under 10 feet of snow (that's only a slight exaggeration) wouldn't be so lucky. Where I saw beauty, they saw a lot of backbreaking work with a snow shovel.

God also sees beauty where many don't. If you talk to anyone long enough, you're going to see some ugliness. We all have experiences in our lives that we are not proud of and would rather not remember. It's those experiences that make us who we are. Some experiences make us stronger people; some allow us to help others going through the same things.

"Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." (Romans 5:3-4)

Finding beauty in creation is easy. Now, look for it in a person that rubs you the wrong way. Look for in a situation or circumstance you'd rather not be in. Look for God's love and the unexpected blessings in your life.

The challenge this week is to find beauty in something where many might only see ugly barrenness. Even if you feel your life is a mess, even that God can turn around into a thing of beauty.

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