Abounding Beauty

(this is Jen fixing a previous post, May 6)

For the past few weeks, my mind has been incredibly opened to the power and presence of beauty. Perhaps it is the arrival, the in-breaking and the blossoms of Spring that have sprung this one on me. I have a tendency to let reality stifle creating beauty in my life. But for some reason, beauty makes me thankful, hopeful and joyful. This should not be a surprising find given that some Catholic friends I met who have a prison ministry in their home spoke so much about a theology of beauty and how their home was meant to reflect that.

When I actually get around to cleaning my house, it pushes me to be more thankful for what I have. There is something bizarrely wonderful about taking care of something, polishing it up, experssing a hidden inner beauty, and having the comittment to tidy everything up just a week later. But I know that when my house it clean, I get a chance to rejoice in the beauty that I create through decorating as it fuses with God's gifts: bright sunlight coming through a room, an inherited piece of furniture or birds chirping as background music to a beautiful morning waking up in a room of calming colors.

I'm finding that beauty abounds in the most unexpected of places and it brings joy to my heart! Typically I identify beauty as costly and shallow, but the joy in my heart is what cries out for a balance. Look at the woman who anoints Jesus with oil--she is a testimony of abundance and beauty where she pours an expensive perfume on the Savior's feet. As the disciples get tongue tied wondering why this woman should let something go to waste, Jesus reminds them that this woman will be remembered for her faith for generations.

Now I am an opponent of the health and wealth Gospel, but I cannot deny that this woman used something costly and material and used it to point to the new reality of the coming Kingdom that Jesus would inaugurate with his death and resurrection. Perhaps there is room to experience and express beauty as a reminder of the coming Kingdom and the beauty of the love and character of God.

Posts for the coming weeks: The Theology of the Body, The Creative Spirit...who knows, maybe I'm slowly becoming Catholic!