Skip to main content

Beauty and ...

 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. (Isaiah 61:3)

                Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.  Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. (I Peter 3:3-4)

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)

But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. (Psalm 5:11)

The next two practical ideas for wintering well are to rejoice in beauty and savor simple joys. Three warnings come to mind. The first is that we must not worship beauty or joy. They should not be the purpose of our lives. Beauty and joy bring good into our lives until or unless they become our masters, not our friends.

The passage from I Peter warns us: function comes before beauty or joy. It doesn’t matter that it looks good if it’s broken. At the same time, broken does not mean irreparable. What can be fixed can be beautiful or bring joy again – it just needs to be repaired.

The third warning is that we are to find the greatest beauty and joy in God because otherwise, we’re likely to need to review the first warning. These are all obvious, but it felt as if we needed the “legal” advisories.

I define joy as the sense of contentment found in the firm belief that one is cared for by someone who is ready, willing, and able to care for us. Others might say it’s the feeling that things are or will be somewhere in the range of good to fantastic – or (to reference Shakespeare) between all’s well that ends well and as you like it.

Beauty is a little more difficult because it depends on which senses have priority in your life. I think we also mix beauty up with “what we like” and with things like sex appeal. What I like may not be beautiful or good for me, and sex appeal is often not attractive. We need to educate or examine ourselves and start where we are. The author suggests we enjoy wearing good china or wearing a pretty outfit. She suggests that we enjoy sipping a warm drink from a favorite mug or making a simple new recipe. These are good ideas. You may have others.

For me, both beauty and simple joys tends to go back to the idea of the habit of attention. Beauty catches my attention. Savoring a mug of something involves not chugging it down, but paying attention to each sip, noticing the colors of the sunset, or the garden, or the room. It involves something that positively catches your attention. It involves things fitting together, being ordered.  Your junk drawer will (probably) never be beautiful unless you are very creative and disciplined. Beauty is why I take pictures, even if they aren’t beautiful, in hopes that one might be.

And, as already pointed out, ultimately, God is beautiful. God is our source of joy. Seeking beauty and joy involves looking for and at what He has given us, and what those things tell us about Him.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more