We long for beauty because God has placed that desire in us. We weren’t created to be visually assaulted by evil each day. And yet at this time in history we are surrounded daily by every manner of slovenliness, vulgarity, profanity and worse. Even when we do our best to avoid it, we rarely can if we leave our home. Music full of profanity plays in mall stores. Words that would have brought about a school suspension when I was in high school are now used freely online by those who claim the name of Christ. Very few people have any sense of pride in their appearance when they go into public.
This rise of vulgarity is distressing because as followers of Christ we instinctively know better. Much of it isn’t even a matter of personal preference. The things we are forced to interact with visually and audibly are often blasphemous and against God’s created order.
God is a God of beauty. Just look at His creation to know this is true. It’s not supposed to be this way.
We have to be the ones who make the effort to bring beauty back out into the open. We need to set the example. We can do this by speaking and acting graciously around others. Making sure our appearance is blessing to those around us whether it is at the store, church, or in our own home. We shouldn’t lessen our standards to the low common denominator that surrounds us.
This is something I have tried to do consistently throughout my life, but I do feel like I need a little bit of a refocus in this area. When life is difficult or overwhelming, it is easy to let the little things go. To not make the extra effort to make things pretty. To be satisfied with good enough.
To be sure, there are times when good enough truly is good enough. If we’re ill, have a newborn, or are dealing with another significant life event it can take everything we have just to get through the day. God knows that and we should be gracious with ourselves.
But how often do people take the easy way out because they don’t want to put forth the effort? It’s not that they can’t. They simply don’t want to be bothered. The cumulative effect of this is the culture we now see around us. We didn’t fall into degradation as a culture over night. It was millions of people making millions of decisions every day that beauty didn’t matter. Dignity didn’t matter. The extra effort didn’t matter.
And here we are.
So I’m challenging myself to put forth the extra minute or two to include more beauty in my cozy home. To take the little extra steps that bring beauty to my relationships. To make sure when I’m out and about that my countenance and words spread beauty and graciousness. To hopefully be the little spark that makes someone else consider making her own changes.
How can you spread more beauty in your circle of influence?
Lavender photo credit, young woman photo credit, teacup photo credit
This article has resonated with me very much. I agree with what you say,regarding people allowing the degradation that now exists, that it has been taking place slowly, but now abounds everywhere, even in church.
I too feel we’re lacking beauty and grace in our every day lives. I need to be the difference as you say, may God spark in me His beauty and may I spread it all around!
Hi Sallie,
“But how often do people take the easy way out because they don’t want to put forth the effort?”
This reminds me of a little life event, back in my 20s. It was morning, I was dressed and ready to start the day. I left my house, started walking down the street, and then just stopped. I had a look at myself and told myself I could do way better than what I looked like (I don’t remember what I was wearing, but I had probably just thoughtlessly thrown on something).
So I marched myself back to my house and got myself dressed nicely. Left the house again and was standing at a crosswalk waiting for the light. Unbelievably, a talent agent came up to me on the streetcorner and asked me if I wanted to be part of an ad campaign and get paid for it.
I’m not a model, not by any stretch, but at that moment, I had the ‘look’ they were after: trendy, put together, aesthetically pleasing.
The photo shoot was tons of fun (and I got paid, no little fact for a struggling early 20s something) and I still have copies of the newspapers the ad was in. My daughter loves looking at those pix of me from back then.
I often think about it because I know that talent agent would never have approached me had I kept on going that morning looking the way I did before I marched myself back home to do better.
Not only is beauty/aesthetics important in how we dress… but in our living spaces, too. Inside and out. My daughter and I travel a lot, so have opportunity to be in aesthetically more pleasing places and some less so. It makes a huge difference in how we feel and we talk about it. Being in beautiful places rests and rejuvenates our souls. A place without beauty is dehumanizing and godless. We – and here I mean the general ‘we’ – can feel it. Just as we feel God in the presence of beauty.
Thank you for validating the value of beauty in our lives 🙂
Renee
Renee,
You wrote this comment some time ago and I realize I never responded to it. I loved this story when I read it the first time (and now!). Thank you for sharing it with us. And what a great memory to have and share with your daughter!
Sallie