Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!
Psalm 96:11-12
Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!
Let the trees of the forest sing for joy
Saturday afternoon, driving to and from the Rehabilitation Center where my mother is healing after hip surgery, I listened to a segment of a radio interview on the topic of beauty. We have reduced beauty, the interviewee insisted, to a one-dimensional notion associated with skincare products.
Fact is – and this is something I have always understood – beauty is a lot more interesting than that. Beauty as I see it is very much an intentional way of looking at this world through the eyes of faith.
Hence the series of photographs in today’s post.
First, my mother, struggling to remain positive and motivated in a rehab environment that is at times challenging to navigate. We practiced her exercise assignments out in the lobby, and when she offered this smile (above) I am glad I had the reflexes to capture it right away.
Beauty is as much a thing of the spirit as it is anything exclusive to the glitterati in People Magazine or Hollywood – actually, more so.
Then, at the other end of the age scale, our grandson David. Now don’t give me the knee-jerk “girls are beautiful; boys are handsome” cliché response. Just look at him! Our grandchildren – three boys and one girl – are all beautiful and there is no more appropriate word.
Stately Trees:
Next, portrait number three, this tree in Raleigh.
Look how beautiful! Old and wrinkled standing tall and strong. Trees are amazing living beings and I tend to sympathize with those who like to say that trees have souls and we must respect them as our siblings on this Good Earth.
Lord knows the fate of the trees is fair commentary on how we have abused – and continue to misuse – this fair planet on which we live.
Grant all of us the wisdom, Lord of Creation, to engage this world we inhabit with the demonstration of more care and respect for all the good life here.
Dog in an Almost Empty House:
The last one, and I am not sure why it grabbed my attention (but it did so I have to share it with you), is titled “Dog in an Almost Empty House“.
Maybe it’s because we have been working so darned hard now for a full month and Max has been this constant presence just hanging out and watching!
Maybe it’s because the scene is such a true representation of what’s been going on in the “Maul-Hall annex”.
Regardless, there he is – on National Dog Day no less! – and he is constantly so very beautiful and so full with grace that we can scarcely believe how blessed we are to have him.
So enjoy these portraits, and use them as inspiration to look with more respect, and more love, and more open-spirited acceptance, and to receive the messages God has for us as we take the time to open our hearts.
In love, and because love allows us to see real beauty where others tend to miss the gift – DEREK
