I am an aesthetic person. I like the way things look, how they feel, how they make me feel. I notice how the sun sifts through the curtains in the late afternoon, the way the sky tinges with the slightest blush on a cold winter morning, the feel of the soft knit sweater on my skin, none of these things are lost on me. I am aware of them all. That is the way God made me. I fully expect that the place that Christ is preparing for me will thrill my senses.
Friends would laugh at me when we’d go shopping. I’d go through the aisles, ohhing and ahhing over the patterns on shower curtains and have to run my hand over the high thread count bed linens and plush sofa pillows. I was drawn to it all, like a moth to the flame. I am a candle connoisseur. I like the warm scents of cinnamon and spice, also when the weather turns warm and my lavender begins to come alive once again, the smell of springtime. I see the small tight lines that were painstakingly stitched to create the quilts that I have collected over the years. There is beauty in so much….if one takes the time to notice.
I appreciate beauty, whether it is fabrics and colors, God’s paintbrush and textures of nature, or the color of someone’s eyes. Beauty doesn’t have to be perfect, in order to be beautiful. I have been honored to spend a majority of my life working with those individuals that the world would not call beautiful. Limbs that are deformed and don’t work as intended, flat facial features, faces without symmetry, voices that might not speak at all, much less utter sounds that form words. I’ve watched individuals cry because the typical sounds of the day cause pain to their delicate sensory systems….but, there is beauty in the midst.
Sometimes beauty comes in ways that are least expected. The world calls beautiful, perfect facial symmetry, good hair, straight teeth, and a flat stomach. God says that those things don’t matter. It is the beauty of the heart that concerns Him. Hands that grip to lift another up. A lopsided smile, for no other reason except that the sun is shining today. A baby’s giggle. Words from a friend that encourage. A dinner prepared for family. Unfolded laundry still in the basket, that will eventually get done. The smell of freshly brewed coffee permeating the kitchen on a cold morning. Even scars that tell a story, beauty from ashes.
God’s beauty is never ending.
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 NIV
It Just Dawned On Me 