Celebrate Beauty

Thursday, January 12, 2012 Posted by Sara

A few days ago I was bustling along getting ready for work when I walked outside and saw the sunrise shown here. The photo, of course, doesn’t do it justice. I could have stared for hours. But work beckoned and soon the day would wash the sky clear again, preparing it like a canvas for the next show.

I like to think of sunrises and sunsets as God’s water color paintings, made new everyday. He’s used the same canvas and it’s never looked the same twice. Fresh. New. Daily. Revealed beauty.

This sunrise made me think of all of us, and the beauty we reveal. The world suggests you have to look a certain way, be a certain size, or maintain a certain lifestyle to be beautiful. But God has been declaring since the beginning what true beauty is – through the unique creation of every person He knitted together. And, you see, the expression of God’s beauty would be incomplete without YOU. You and your wonderful personality, dreams, gifts, talents, laughter, and style reflect God’s beauty in news ways everyday – just like the sun as it rises and falls.

You are beautiful. And so is the person who has the office next to yours, or the ones you tuck into bed at night, or the ones you pass by in the grocery store. Maybe we should tell them now and again. Maybe we should tell ourselves too. And while we’re at it, maybe we should break the tendency to avoid eye contact with those we assume we will never see again in our hurried life (perhaps I’m just preaching to myself, here) – and smile, noting they too were on God’s mind, born from His dream, and crafted with beauty in mind.

Today – let’s celebrate beauty – in ourselves and in each other. Let’s let who God created us to be, in all our delightful quirkiness, shine on the world around us, and perhaps remind a few people that they too reveal the beauty of God unlike any other ever created.

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14