LIFE’S PARADOX BEAUTY AMID BROKENNESS

Life’s Paradox, Beauty Amid Brokenness;

Every year of my life I grow more convinced that it is imperative that we fix our attention on the beautiful and the good, and dwell as little as possible on the evil and the false. 

We do have to pay attention, Lord knows what happens when we ignore evil and just hope it goes away, but to be entwined with, all tangled up with, Jesus, now that  delivers a peace that overwhelms all the tactics of the enemy.

There is just enough goodness to rouse our hearts with expectation, and plenty enough sadness to cut us back down. When the cutting down exceeds the rising up, you wonder if you shouldn’t just stay down.

 “I wept when I was borne,” wrote the Anglican poet George Herbert, “and every day shows why.”

Yes, life can also be beautiful. I am a lover of all the beautiful things in life. But may I point out that the movie by that name — Life Is Beautiful — takes place in a Nazi concentration camp.

The story is precious in the way the father loves and protects his little boy from the ghoulish realities all around. But the father is killed at the end.

Many, many people die prematurely, evil and atrocities abound, those who we thought would help and protect us are selling us out to the highest bidder. These are the facts of our time and we need more than a survival mentality or a apathetical attitude to cope with today’s world.

We need more than a silver-lining outlook on life. Much, much, more. We need an unbreakable, unquenchable hope, unshakable courage and a willingness to GO.

Setting on our dock on Little Lake Harris, the amber light of evening was turning every vibrant color producing a colorful spectacle. It looked like something from a painting — transcendent, mythic. And for a moment it all felt brimming with promise.

You’ve probably felt that promise too, as you stood in some favorite spot, watching the beauty of the waves, spring flowers in the mountains, walking the woodland trails, sitting on your porch with a cup of coffee.

Something keeps whispering to us through the beauty we love.

Something inside our hearts uses a still small voice, an inspiring that brings with it a restoration of the soul.

I savor those moments; they are among my most treasured memories. But whatever it is that speaks such promise, it seems to slip through our fingers every time we reach for it.

I know that simply excited that this year is over isn’t the answer, because who really knows what next year will bring? “Each day has enough trouble of its own,” said the most compassionate man ever.

There is so much beauty in the world. I have to be reminded of little things from time to time, like the painstaking arrangement of flowers that line a path to give off that perfect radiance of beauty in color, or the way a person simply walks into a room and lights it up.

Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the persons eyes when they tell their stories behind the items they treasure, Watch the passion come alive when they talk of their loved ones. Watch as they tell the stories that take them back to a time of joy, even though you have heard those stories a hundred times.

Take a look at the small child as they learn, and the smiling faces of the people when they are pleasantly surprised.

Smell the rain and dance in it, and feel the wind that rocks before the storm. Live your life to the fullest potential never be afraid to take a chance on someone, and fight for your dreams.

It is said if you look deeply into the finished painting of the artist you can see the soul of that artist.  I don’t know if that is true, however, when I gaze into the beauty and wildness of nature I see the tenacious heartbeat of a glorious trio doing everything that they can to get Zoe to us . (Zoe – meaning the life as God has it).

There is neither manic depression nor hidden crevice that can hide us from the relentless pursuit of our Daddy God. No out of work ministering angel nor evil circumstance that can pry us from the hand of Spirit of Grace, there is no unique temptation nor any stone left unturned that was not first dealt with and conquered on our behalf by our hero Jesus Christ.

The beauty of nature is the restorer of hope in picture form.

Realize this; you were created with an internal thirst for beauty, intimacy, and adventure all of these together forms the motivating character of Christ in you, the Hope of Glory.

Here is a confident place to put your hope . God said this… Philippians 1:6 … He that began a good work in you will carry it on to completion … I haven’t yet found anyone who could stop God when He wanted to do something, have you?

just a thought