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Tag: Eccl 3:11

  • Beauty. Day 22 of Lent. Beholding Beauty.

    #Beauty. Day 22 of #Lent. Beholding Beauty.

    You-are-beautiful

    Philosophers claim the highest forms of beauty are purposeless. That means we see something and universally agree that it is beautiful and find pleasure in viewing them.

    Michelangelo’s David will overwhelm you with its beauty regardless of your knowledge of the sculpture, where its marble was quarried, who sponsored the art, or what sources of inspiration or goals Michelangelo had in sculpting it. We don’t need art training to identify the beauty we see or a course in philosophy to recognize how beauty is observed. Recognition of physical beauty is an exercise through observation that is independent of the knowledge of how the object came into existence.

    This view can easily be applied also to the appreciation of beauty among human beings. To see the beauty of a person you need not know their story. No need to learn about their origins, education, occupation, how today’s been going for them or if they sought, worked or suffered to be beautiful.  Beauty may reveal itself in a person simply by observing them even at a glance.

    Purposeless beauty, however, may lead to deep misunderstandings. You may believe that you are indeed appreciating the beauty of Michelangelo’s David, but because of your art ignorance, you miss the real values of beauty that it expresses. It often happens with people too.

    So what exactly is beauty?

    The Dove Campaign asked women and found that:
    77% strongly agree that beauty can be achieved through attitude, spirit, and other attributes that have nothing to do with physical appearance.
    89% strongly agree that a woman can be beautiful at any age.
    85% state that every woman has something about her that is beautiful.

    The study found that 2/3 of women strongly agree that physical attractiveness is about how one looks, whereas beauty includes much more of who a person is.

    In a glance we can say someone is attractive.
    Through a relationship we discover someone is beautiful.
    We need to be more intentional with our word choices.

    Especially when the World seeks to praise physical beauty and links it to pleasure and power. Vanity, seeking beauty as a means to achieve pleasure can lead to hedonism, the typical symbol of decadence. Eros or physical love is sensual in nature. It is defined as a longing which in contemplation becomes an appreciation of the beautiful, or even becomes appreciation of beauty itself. Eros is always looking only skin deep. The Agape love that Christians are to pursue is a selfless love that seeks to connect with another through relationship. Our knowledge of another allows beauty to be discovered and we smile and say, “You are so beautiful.”

    Beauty is defined by God and He set the standard for beauty.

    Song of Solomon 4:7 You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.

    1 Peter 3:3-4 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

    Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

     Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.

    It takes time to discover beauty, through relationships that look deeper than the skin. Do you realize yet how beautiful you are to God.

    Live Loved beautiful.

  • RENEW. Day 21 of Lent. For everything there is a season.

    RENEW. Day 21 of Lent. For everything there is a season.

    renew

    When I see a Robin in late winter I know Spring is coming.
    And when the Bradford Pear Trees sprout like winter snow, I know it is here. But it is this one winter tree I have learned to watch. With fall long past, it is the one that has that cluster of dead leaves still hanging on even after Winter’s worst was heavy upon its branches. Yet still a few leaves cling fast, so misplaced, stoically strong. So stubbornly stuck that Life itself must push the dead from the branch.

    Then the tree is renewed.

    Spiritual renewal comes often that way. We hold on to the comfortable. We’re begrudging creatures.  Stubbornly dead. Stuck. The end of some seasons like death and the grief often so hard that we are sometimes found in Winter still clinging to Fall. And we’ve refused to let go. To take our rest. To be bare and quiet and silent and ready. To listen through the winter, looking for the Robin. The first sign, thought, inclination that something new is coming soon. Life about to spring forth from what feels so dead. Even when we are still holding on to the last remains of a past season, God renews us. New life pushes out the dead. The birth of tiny buds of green forces old leaves to finally fall. God is so faithful in His transformation process.

    “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

    All of life relates to seasons. And Solomon tells us “for everything there is a season”-Everything. Every. Thing. In my circle of friends I have retired widows and young single career women. I know empty nesters adjusting to the new quiet and newlyweds praying for babies. Friends recovering from divorce and others fighting disease. All different seasons. And God has made everything beautiful in its time.

    Whatever season you are in, be, there. Yearning for what’s next or mourning what’s in the past causes us to shift our focus off the spiritual call to Abide.  We’re like those dead leaves out of season. We’re distracted and discontent. We’re afraid. All things we’re called not to be in Christ.  Yes some seasons are extremely difficult. The wait of winter is hard and its storms can be fierce but its pure peace can be beyond understanding. The heat of summer is exhausting, the mosquitoes annoying but the color and the bounty, glory. Fall is bursting full with color and the harvest of activity just as spring is sprouting with fresh new growth and possibilities but both carry with them the side effects of headaches and runny noses from the allergens.  Each season has its glory and its groans and if our lives were one continuous season we wouldn’t have the changes we need to transform us.

    We are born and then we die. Life so fragile and fleeting. We are back to remembering we are DUST. And knowing that truth helps us to live intentionally and make the most of each day.

    So embrace whatever season you are in now. Today. By abiding in Christ. Be you right there, in Christ, with Christ as He works in you and through you. Don’t long for another season. The days may be long, but the years seem so short. So be, there, abide, with Him.
    He makes everything beautiful in its time.