31 Days of Aging Gracefully: Day 5 — Finding Beauty

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Beauty shines. It’s all around us, all the time. But, oh! We need eyes to see it. We need intention and we need attention and we need an open heart.

Lord, open the eyes of my heart, the eyes in my head. 

No matter our age, the truth is always the truth. And here’s the truth: our God is a God of beauty, a God who loves beauty, a God who makes beauty. 

And it shines!

Through the back of a pink hibiscus.

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Through the tassels in long grass.

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Even from a string of new lights from Cost Plus/World Market!

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You can find it in the clouds that roil and roll, and the water that glistens below.

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You can see it in the whiteness of the bluffs as they meet the water and in the reflection they create in a pond of scummy slough water.

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And that scum supports a long list of beautiful shore birds. Beauty downright startles in the silhouette of the greater heron, with his elegant white coat and his bright yellow feet.

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And beauty delights us as we eat our dinner and enjoy the momentary quietude of this small winged creature. 

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And, I gotta tell you that it is beauty that smiles back at me in the handiwork of our much-loved son-in-law, who makes it possible for books to sit on their own shelves and files to nestle in their own drawers. He even added a spotlight to make it all look downright heavenly.

Where are you finding beauty these days?

Just Wondering

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Comments

  1. “We need intention and we need attention and we need an open heart.” So true, Diana. The more we actively seek beauty in the everyday and the marvellous in the mundane, the more we will find it. And I’ve found it helps activate an attitude of gratitude too. So I’m finding beauty in the banal, the poetic in the prosaic and the eternal in the temporal as I aim to find beauty everywhere. Since capturing memory markers of my days via Instagram images, it’s amazing what wonders surround me even when largely housebound. Maybe it’s true to say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, because we do need to open mind, heart and eyes to glimpse it. I love the images you share here, and I think they reveal your keen eye for beauty and wonder. 🙂 x

    • LOVELY comment, Joy. And again – thanks for the push on Twitter today. You’re so right – there is a deep connection between seeing and appreciating beauty and living in gratitude. I think they’re tightly intertwined. And you, dear Joy, have the heart. . . and the eye. Thanks for your good words. As always.

  2. Love your photos, Diana – they’re beautiful!
    Yes, God’s beauty is everywhere when we have the eyes to see. I’m reminded of His creative hand everytime I sit out on our deck and admire the forest in which our house is nestled.
    Blessings!

    • Amazing what sitting outside can do for our beauty antennae, isn’t it? Thanks for your faithful reading and commenting, Martha!

  3. This morning after reading this on my phone, i had a response but seeing how I hate to text more than a sentence or two, I waited and now I don’t remember what brilliant (?) thing I was going to say. I am thinking now as I reflect on this piece – It’s the beauty that I see in nature that does so much for me to help me see God and believe He really is interested in me…to create such beauty, means he takes care when he creates. I like thinking about that…Psalm 139 comes to mind.

    • You know what I do when I want to comment on my phone? I use Siri. I often have to correct typos because she doesn’t always seem to hear all that well – but she sure makes it easier to text anything! And yes, I agree — nature is what speaks beauty to me most frequently. .Love that Psalm, too.

  4. You are so on target, Diana. As you are stepping into your seventies, I am edging to my eighties. Staying on a quest for God’s amazing love and beauty with a grateful heart is the best way to travel. It warms my heart that you, a young woman, points the way. This particular series of yours is a true gift. Thank you.