Awareness of beauty is a powerful thing. It can eradicate sadness, pain, and rejection. Many people miss creating, or enjoying beautiful moments because they’re not aware of the many languages God speaks without words that elicits inexpressible appreciation deep within.
Beauty In our Stories
Let me give you some examples of how beauty arrested me just last weekend. I was traveling down to minister with my husband and team in the Bay Area. As we were sharing our stories in the car on the way down from Redding to San Francisco, I was amazed at each person’s life and the beautiful tapestry God was weaving throughout their lives.
Beauty within us is never common, but it is a powerful testimony to the One who finds us in the dust and broken areas that seemed hopeless, but celebrates the hope that comes from the moment the creative Light broke in.
If we are to find beauty, we must see beauty, not in perfection from never having failed or felt ugly inside or out, but from the moments when pain carved beauty, and we allowed the Master to make all things beautiful.
Beauty is best appreciated from those who have met the Redeemer of all things, who takes the brokenness within, and shines the prisms of our life to reflect His glory.
I love Michael Gungor’s song, “Beautiful Things”, especially these lyrics:
"All this pain I wonder if I'll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all.
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the us
All around Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You"
When we take time to comprehend the beauty of those who we share life with by discovering their unique journey, we live in moments of beauty that inspire us to take what we have been given and make something beautiful out of the chaos we personally are walking through in light of God’s redemptive plan.
Sometimes Beauty Isn’t Visible
When I was in San Francisco, I painted the Golden Gate Bridge heavily dripped in fog with the city showing up along the horizon line. I entitled my artwork, “Bridgeway To the Unseen Realm.”
Now if I was to interview people about what they love about San Francisco last weekend, it probably wouldn’t be just one thing like the food, diverse people, hills, and architectural design. It would be the intangible feelings evoked from the many memories that now are attached to their experiences that happened while they were there.
In the same way, the more we create with God in the unseen realm, we will have intangible feelings of God’s presence associated with our experiences as we have created with Him.
God the Father is a good Father and is building things inside of us as we create with Him that we may not see, like the Golden Gate under fog, but are nevertheless just as real.
Jesus said,
The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come. (Mark 4:26-30)
Fog is mist that just needs to be navigated through until the sun breaks through, and the clouds and moisture dissipate.
Likewise, as you create with God, your seeds are being activated and it is just a matter of time before they become visible and then fruitful.
Finding Advocates of Beauty
I think those who recognize and bring out the beauty in others are the most beautiful, and reveal the true secrets of beauty.
For example, Mother Teresa is the epitome of beauty, as she held the most wretched homeless in her arms, and sacrificed for those who were considered ugly and unwanted by the rest of the world.
Every time I remember her legacy, I can still see the beauty in her small figure, humped back, and deformed feet because she never wore the right shoes.
When I look at her- I see beauty.
Another person who carries the beauty of heaven is Teresa Goyne, who is not a well-known public figure on earth, but very well-known in heaven.
We went to visit her restaurant called “Old Skool Café”, in the heart of the inner city of San Francisco.
About 10 years ago, she began to work with troubled teens, who were on probation, and futureless.
She started a program that teaches them job skills in running and working in a restaurant, while mentoring them, teaching them Kingdom principles that will propel them into a good future and hope.
She has worked day and night, tirelessly with juvenile courts, and with drug infested homes within the city of San Francisco because the beauty of every youth is worth the sacrifice.
As she shared her heart, her many struggles, and victories with my team and I last weekend, I was reminded of Jesus words: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Beauty Within
All of us have been impacted by beauty found in nature, in other’s lives, and in champions who have fought for others to find beauty and dignity.
This journey always starts with us discovering the beauty within each of us.
Psalm 139 talks about how fearfully and wonderfully we have been made in His image. The message is that God sees us as worthwhile and beautiful.
So today, wherever you are, and at whatever juncture you find yourself in, take time to celebrate the beauty in how God made you, and how your creative compassion can inspire others to find their beauty, just like Mother Teresa or Teresa Goyne did.
That’s when you will truly become beautiful.
Let the music you make, the art you create, the Instagram photos you post, and what you write and share reflect your story of beauty.
Remember, He found you and redeemed you, so that others can be reconciled to His beauty within them.
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 2 Cor. 4:7,8
Let the fog clear, and let God show you beauty within, the beauty in those around you, and pave the way to choose to make a difference to touch others, so that those who don’t know they are beautiful can find the truth of God’s perspective and purpose.
Remember, you are Born to Create!