Beauty

"Believe just this moment that everything is being transfigured for His glory. Every step towards something beautiful already accomplishes something beautiful. Beauty and joy are found in every overcoming along the way.

Only those who believe in the beautiful — can collaborate in the miraculous."

-Ann Voskamp

"And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us..."  Psalm 90:17

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

"The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."  Zephaniah 3:17

"A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory."  Matthew 12:20

The crunch, crunch of chains

The rub, rub, whir of tire

A hiccup, pothole

World rushes past

Eyes rest on flower, flight of bird

Showers of liquid sun pebble through tree shadows

Onto my hair and neck

Warm moist air is drenched in scent - 

Magnolia, jasmine, roses...

Grey furry Goslings paddle clown-footed

behind their mothers, I pause,

letting this flock waddle by

I would have whizzed past

"not seeing the forest for the tree"

a tree of delicate beauty surrounded by

tall, sturdy pines

Am I this tree?

Or the cultivated tree?

High-maintance tree everyone wants

But God...

He may place us 

in an obscure, unknown place - 

Yet He watches over us.

"Keep me as the apple of the eye,

 hide me under the shadow of your wings."

Psalm 17:8

The oyster its pearl

Treasure chest its key

Perfume its cork

Rose its thorn

Eye its lid

Fruit its skin

But if shell is broken

Treasure unlocked

Perfume poured

Rose crushed

Eye opened

Fruit eaten

THEN we experience beauty

in all its fullness

Oh to write lyrics 

to the birds songs!

See, all the pine branches

like fingers pointing

to heaven!

Yet my finger, uncouth

will darken the white magnolia bloom

Even in this, we are as the

Mona Lisa painting: the "best known, the most visited,

 the most written about, the most sung about, 

the most parodied work of art in the world."^[1]

Kept protected behind bullet-proof glass.

He protects those He loves

In Love, Jesus, our Christmas rose

a tender shoot from the stump of Jesse

Wore a crown of thorns

He bled, wept

He was broken, unlocked

poured out, viewed - 

on the Cross

All for LOVE

"Taste and see that the LORD is good.

 Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!"

Psalm 34:8

He was broken

We eat the broken bread

His blood poured out for us

We drink the cup He pours

We remember He is beauty

Beauty is not beautiful

till uttered, extended and shared

Make our lives beautiful, Lord

"Then the King will desire your beauty.

Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him."

Psalm 45:11

"Give to the LORD, the glory due to his name; 

worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness."

Psalm 29:2

As I skid over gravel

park this bicycle

Sigh, gaze into the sky

Creator, Beautiful One!

Thank you!