My wife surrounds me with beauty. She is always neatly and
attractively dressed, simply yet beautifully. The atmosphere in our house
is always inviting; ordered, clean, and prepared, so that I love to be
there! She is a woman with a beautiful spirit, godly and kind. I
try not to take any of that for granted, realizing that the life of beauty that
I enjoy requires significant effort to create and maintain. Some people
like to ‘get away’ to enjoy the beauty of a resort. Bev makes our home a
beautiful retreat for me. How blessed I am.
The power of beauty is sometimes overlooked. It can
soothe a troubled soul, heal a broken heart, comfort those who mourn. Why do
you think that we play music and bring flowers to funerals? We know that the
beauty found in those things are helpful, a bridge to carry us over our grief.
Beauty inspires us, too. We walk in the natural beauty of Creation
and our soul is renewed. We enter a building created for beauty and our heart
soars. When we spend time around a person who has become beautiful in spirit,
our hope is strengthened.
Beauty is a delightful gift. We are irresistibly drawn to it
and, when our hearts are full of God’s Spirit, we will desire to create beauty,
just as He does. The opening lines of the Bible speak of His love of beauty. "The
earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of God was
hovering over its surface." (Genesis 1:2, NLT) Then, the text
says He called Light into existence. He spoke the seas and mountains into
being. He gave flowers, trees, and all living things their beginning.
Then, we learn that "the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the
ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a
living being." (Genesis 2:7, NIV) The whole of those texts are
poetic praises of the amazing beauty that poured from the mind of God!
On this Monday morning, let God, the Beautiful One, bring
beauty into your life. Jesus quoted Isaiah as He described His
mission. He said that He came to “provide for those who grieve in
Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness
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 Meditate on those
phrases. Each is a promise of restoration, calling the beauty made by the
Spirit from the chaos that comes from sin.
What we experience as ‘beauty’ will vary to some degree, but
we all love the beauty of virtue. No matter our age, sex, race, or culture
– we recognize the beauty of love, of kindness, of a gentle heart, of goodness.
In the same way that a gorgeous garden does not spring the earth without the
attention of a gardener, those things do not flourish without our application
of ourselves. God has given us the seed and the tools of His Spirit. Now,
we are privileged to create beauty. Will we?
Let Him make you beautiful today. Share that beauty with the
world where you live. Then, as Isaiah said, you will be one “planted
by God to display his glory. " (Isaiah 61:3, The Message)
______________
All this pain,
I wonder if I'll ever find my way?
I wonder if my life could really change,
At all?
All this earth,
Could all that is lost ever be found?
Could a garden come up from this ground,
At all?
You make beautiful things,
You make beautiful things out of the dust!
You make beautiful things,
You make beautiful things out of us!
All around,
Hope is springing up from this old ground.
Out of chaos life is being found
In You!
You make me new,
You are making me new.
You are making me new.
You make me new,
You are making me new.
CCLI Song # 5665521
Lisa Gungor | Michael Gungor
© 2009 worshiptogether.com songs (Admin. by Capitol CMG
Publishing)
CCLI
License # 810055
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