Behold

I'm not the sort to stand still. I'm always searching for a new taste and a fresh breath. If I'm stagnant, if I don't feel like I'm moving forward, or learning, I get anxious, depressed and soak up constant negativity from everywhere. 

I'm a touch of wind that must always be reaching into new places. Tasting new wine, meeting new souls and growing closer to the ones I love. 

Yet, sometimes every day feels the same. I wake up, I do errands, I go to work, I go home etc. I get swept up in the monotony and my once, vision filled thoughts become violently dull. I grow a little gray and I stop seeing the good world for what it is. I begin wishing to live among the stars, surrounded by magnificence.  I hunger for fullness, richness. To be immersed in joy and thanksgiving. To be overwhelmed by beauty.  

As I drove home from work two weeks ago I began having these thoughts again.  How I longed for an ever present touch of supernatural beauty in my life. How I wished I lived in a grander setting with oceans and skyscrapers and fascinating company, and it hit me.

You will constantly grow accustom to the beauty you live in. The world is always marvelous, it's us who have the weak eyes. Craving new beauty is simply the human way and is also part of our relationship to God, because of course He makes everything about the way we are for a reason. King David, in the Psalms commanded us to sing a new song to The Lord as He is deserving of praise. (Psalm 33). Our praise is never stale because as our revelation of the goodness of Jesus unfolds our song changes. Our contribution of praise is thickened by the pursuit of the next revelation of the beauty of God. We are seekers. By our very nature, seekers of new thoughts for our offering plate. 

But the trick to revelation isn't traveling across oceans or country lines, it's appreciating and opening our eyes to the pleasure that touches our quiet steps. It's giving thanks for a small breeze, a cup of iced coffee, an hour with a good friend. Such are the things of life that when valued become rich with wonder and give us joy. 

(Photo taken on the street near my apartment)

Hold on to your love for the world. Travel, see the sights, and when you have time indulge a curious eye. But in the day to day soak up the goodness in your every breath. Let it burn the callous off your thoughts. Breathe again and take in the pleasure of a good life, a thoughtful life. Be transformed by the idea that beauty, when in the eye of a careful beholder, is in everything. 

Life is lived in the small moments we give attention to. In similar thought I heard my pastor once say that we are what we behold. I think our trouble is less in what we behold then whether or not we behold at all. When I am swept up in the routine of practical living I do a lot of passive looking. Do you ever feel yourself slipping into "just getting by" mode? Where it feels like an accomplishment to just make it to the next moment of rest? We all go through seasons where the water rises a little higher and it takes a lot more effort to give ourselves in any way. In these times we are seeking out of necessity. Intentionally setting ourselves for that next moment of revelation. I will not be a bystander. I will open my eyes. Even if it's for a split second I will...

(Photo taken near sunset in Snohomish county) 

What we love becomes us. What we value reveals us. Whatever my season, whatever level of pressure I'm having to wade through, I will be open to the possibility of beautiful things invading my scenery. Because God, that ever present keeper of beauty, is in all things. Because I am seeker, a beholder, a Belieber.

Ha! You probably didn't expect that last one did you? Hehe. No I am not a Belieber. Not even close.

But seriously, behold. That's all.

- Jaelle