Question: Is Your Unremarkable Life Uncommonly Beautiful?
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This question is taken from the if:equip Bible Study called Reflections of God: The Theology of Beauty. Please join me in this study you won't be sorry!
My life? Yes it is.
This is my answer to a question from week 3 day 2.From a young age I have loved the common, old, tattered, torn-bits and pieces of life. Things in nature that are washed and worn away with water and sunlight, fading gray with time. I was never happier than when discovering a trunk in the attic full of old photos and yesteryear lace. I love the musty smell of time and the colors of age, umber and chalky teal, that patina metal and the glittery treasures from simpler days. I loved them because they lived a life, to everyone else they were things to be carted off and discarded but to me they had a story to unravel and listen to.I liken this to my own life. Glittery treasure just needing a good polish-not too much so that the patina is removed-but just enough to bring to light the deep beauty that lies beneath. My life isn't extraordinary, I haven't saved the world or invented some thing remarkable. I have not changed the course of history or won any nobel prize.However, God continues, in the quiet of my heart, to showcase me as His Masterpiece. Now, why is that? And even though I wear a crown of soft gray and the lines of crows feet creep from the edges of my blue eyes. Despite the birth wrung tummy and less youthful silhouette I can still say this of Him,"...But You(Lord) called me beautiful when You saw my shame and You placed me on the wall anyway."~ listen here to this song by Nicole Nordeman~ Song, Anyway SO Good!This is what El Roi, the God who sees all things, does. He takes everyday lives and makes them extraordinary. This is truth. Think about the life of Joseph-the youngest, David-the shepherd boy, Tamar-a prostitute? How about Gideon-the weakest of the lowest tribe, and Moses-a murderer, need I go on?So what does my unremarkable life share with these uncommon heroes of the faith? Each one of these stories is about someone common doing uncommon things, about the unremarkable bringing the remarkable to light. Believe it or not, myself along with these others are all marked by the beauty of God's redemption. Now mind you, I will probably will not save the land from famine or become King or save the lineage of the Messiah. And I most likely won't, defeat an army with only 100 men or save an entire people from slavery.But I am going to live as if I could.That is the intersection of unremarkable and uncommonly beautiful. Why don't you meet me there.7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7God sees your treasure, dear girl. Amen.