I have a lot of tools for working around the house, including most of the tools in the picture to the left. When I use them they are very useful. When I'm finished they get put away and I don't give them any more thought. Have I ever considered them beautiful? No.
I also have several tools I use with my horse, Sugar -- a saddle, a dressage whip (which is used as an extension of my hand and not as a whip in case you're wondering), a halter and lead rope, and a bit and bridle similar to the one in the picture to the left. When I use them they are very useful. When I'm finished they get put away and I don't give them any more thought. Have I ever considered them beautiful? Yes, actually I have. There is a beauty in leather workmanship that's easier to see than in mass produced products like my home tools above.
Yet, if I stopped to think about my home tools i can think there may be beauty there that I have been missing. The beauty is not in the design necessarily, yet each one is perfectly designed for it's use. The beauty is in idea of the designer, the person who first conceived the idea of that particular tool - how it may be safer to use, more efficient to use, more effective to use. There is a creative beauty behind almost everything we use if we stop and think about it.
It's easy for me to think of prayer to Jesus as a tool. Many, if not most, of my prayers to Jesus are requests - requests for safety, requests for healing, requests for someone's life to be changed and on and on.
Jesus be useful to me. I need, I need, I need...
There's nothing wrong with those prayers and we're asked to bring all things to him in prayer.
Yet, am I missing something when I think only of Jesus as someone who is just useful to me?
Is Jesus merely useful to you — or is He ultimately beautiful to you? When Jesus is merely useful to me, I want Him to move my world. When Jesus is ultimately beautiful to me, it’s my heart that is moved – and this begins to change the world. (Ann Voskamp, A Holy Experience Blog)
When I stop and think about the things that are useful to me I can find a beauty in them that has eluded me and I believe my world is slightly expanded by that insight.
When I stop and see, focus on and appreciate Jesus as the ultimate beauty in my life, my world is greatly expanded. My eyes, both human and spiritual, are opened and I see the world in a different way.
I can even begin to see beauty in a hammer - and maybe even a garbage disposal ;)
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2 comments:
Most excellent. The designer (creator) of anything has in mind a purpose for it to fulfill. Our job is to find that purpose and be a good tool. And aren't we pretty!! Great post.
Had small group at our house Monday night on the preached topic of Prayer. Good insights. Sorry I'm days - or is that weeks - behind?
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