Beauty

At the time this dialogue was going on, my daughter and her family had been doing almost a year of language study in a poverty stricken place on the island of Java. Her response to my thoughts about clean windows (previous post) was:

Mom, I needed that encouragement today. After living one year in this kampung, I sometimes feel a little guilty for all that we own (relatively speaking). But beauty and making things beautiful is encouraging to the soul and I think moving to the soul too. When I go to a beautiful and comfortable home, I come away renewed and refreshed. I needed this reminder today.

Part of my response:
It's interesting that the things you mentioned about "beauty" are things I read yesterday. The authors (John and Stasi Eldredge) mentioned a number of things about what beauty does:
It speaks. It can tell you that all will be well.
It gives rest.
It invites. It draws you. It's captivating...like beautiful music or a beautiful sunset.
It nourishes. (a woman nursing her child)
It comforts.
It inspires. It makes us want to be better. (Mother Teresa)
Beauty is transcendent. It pierces us with longing for the life that was meant to be and speaks of heaven to come.
God created man and woman in His image. Women bear the beauty part of His Image in a way that only the feminine can speak and tell us more about God.
God loves beauty. The whole earth is filled with HIS glory!
I think about the dirt, and the kampung setting that you are living in or the way that the enemy has twisted or destroyed so much of what God has meant to be beautiful, and I realize that he (the enemy) wants to destroy any evidence of God's Image.
May we ask God to wash the windows of our soul, so that His light and beauty can clearly shine through.
I love you, Jules. Thank you for inspiring me.