Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty. —Anne Herbert
Speak to me until I understand / Why our thinking and creating / Why our efforts of narrating / About the beauty, of the beauty / And why it matters. —Sarah Groves
I wanna be your easter bunny; I wanna be your christmas tree. —R.E.M.
The first is a bumper sticker that my friend Rachel's mom has on her car. The second and third are song lyrics that have passed from my iPod into my ears in the past couple hours. Isaac was speaking of growth, and how it's ever-important that when we get the question, "Is the Gathering growing?" that we answer with, "Growing in what?" Our hope is to grow in faith, hope, and love...because according to Paul, those are "the three that remain." (1 Corinthians 13)
Growing up, I was encouraged to weigh all decisions against the question, "Is it logical?" It never set well with me. I wasn't sure what a better question to ask would be, but last night Isaac gave words to it. The better question is, "Is it beautiful?" Logic is good and all, I'm not knocking logic. But if we're ranking things, I'd put beauty before logic. We don't sing, "Logical One, I love you; logical One, I adore..." No, we sing, "
Beautiful One, I love you;
beautiful One, I adore." Rarely are we moved by an amazing display of logic, but we are frequently moved by an amazing display of beauty.
While God may sometimes decide to be logical, it's impossible for him to not be beautiful. And we are made in his image.
So why on earth do we still ask the question, "Is it logical?" Asking that question in my young adult life got me a degree in a major that I was uninterested in, a job I was intensely bored at, and a mortgage that I didn't want. I've since asked a different question, and followed that great compass that God placed within each of us: the heart. I gotta tell ya, I'm a million times happier. I have no idea why we insist on asking the question, "Is it logical?" instead of the question, "Is it beautiful?"
Perhaps it's because we're afraid. I think Marianne Williamson said it better than I ever could, in a speech she wrote that was made well-known by Nelson Mandela.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."But the bible tells us not to fear the things of this earth. Paul said, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8) Jesus himself said, "In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world." (John 16) Perhaps asking the question, "Is it logical?" is simply a way to justify our fears, keeping ourselves safe in the arms of convenience and good common sense.
So, my challenge to myself this week, and in the weeks beyond?
Go forth and be beautiful. Be somebody's easter bunny. Be somebody's christmas tree. The beauty...it matters.
Will you join me?
