Blog 180 – 12.9.15

One of my favorite expressions is: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” One the reasons we have traditionally honored musicians, poets, and artists is for their ear, their eye, and their appreciation for beauty that makes our world a more beautiful place. Grant you, the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches are always trying to take our eyes off the true beauty of life but everything truly is beautiful in its own way.

One of my favorite writers, Dean Koontz , writes in the genre called “Horror.” I know what you are thinking, “Where is the beauty in that?” Well, it would surprise you how much beauty can come out of a well told scary and horrific story. Courage, hope, and love shine brightest with a dark background. I like to watch a good scary movie and I know tastes differ. A dear friend used to say how can you watch that crap but I think even she has come to see that if you give yourself a chance to see beyond the crap you can see beauty in everyone and everything. You can learn to see the Good or the God in everything.

It was perhaps a big mistake eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and of evil in the Garden of Eden. Did that really happen or was it just a dream? Call me crazy, but this life does have a dream-like quality to it. We seem to sleep walk through most of it but sometimes wake up enough to realize that our thoughts are creating the dream and not the other way around. The evil and ugliness we see is also in the eye and mind of the beholder. We have only to change our minds and the focus of our eye to behold the beautiful world created for us that was pronounce “Good” by the One True Musician, Poet, and Artist in us all. And, God, is all his handiwork  beautiful.

I remember a poster of a beautiful nature scene I saw in the bookstore of the Bible College I attended. The words printed on the poster said, “That’s beautiful. (And beneath that) I know, I made it. – God.” To quote a song I heard back then, “He’s a poet. He’s a painter. He’s a natural rainbow maker.” Everything is beautiful, especially you.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White