Allison Janae blog

Warm, fresh spring air blows in through the window adjacent to my small bedside desk. The sunlight is as bright as the grass is green, and songbirds chatter in the maples and black locust trees nearest the house. On the caressing breeze I smell fresh-cut grass, and the smell of conditioner in my freshly-cut hair. I smile over this juxtaposition. The renewal, refreshing and growth of the spring season is everywhere.

I breathe in deeply through my nose, and exhale with a smile. What a lovely spring this is. What a lovely day! Full of life, potential, and poetry.

I love poetry and the lovely art form that it is. I love it particularly because it notices the things that we usually don’t notice: describing plain things as profound, and simple things as complex. Poetry tends to reach deeper into the world than what we first experience with our five senses, and gives a deeper meaning to those otherwise “everyday” experiences. 

Poetry is powerful because it finds the beauty in all sorts of things. It can be hard to find beauty everywhere- but the more I look for it, the more I find.

We find beauty in the world, people and experiences around us- but who put that beauty there? Contrary to some popular beliefs and opinions in culture today, I believe that the world was created by a brilliant, masterful Designer. I believe God created everything in the universe, from planets to molecules, insects to animals, oceans to mountains. I believe He created it with as much love and craftsmanship as any artist would mold a piece of pottery, or paint a portrait.

God is an Artist, a Maker. I imagine the joy and delight He felt when He made everything that exists out of nothing. How He must have smiled watching light and life spring forth from the darkness! But surely, He could not have felt more delight than when He made the crown of all His creation: human beings. 

Have you thought about that? WE are a work of art! But not only are we made by a loving, masterful Creator- we are made in His image. We are created to create. Made to make. Made to see, and smell, and hear and feel and enjoy the world God designed for us. I believe He enjoyed creating the world, and I believe He wants us to enjoy it too.

How often do we really enjoy the world? I try to make a practice of enjoying beauty “when I have time”, but not so much when I feel rushed, harried, or stressed. Beauty isn’t important to me when I am in this “survival mode” state of being. This is an easy place to slip into, but I don’t think it is what God wants for me.

26 “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

 (Matthew 6:26-30)

I love how in this passage, we are presented with some beautiful imagery. I picture in my mind the sparrows gathering twigs and loose feathers to make a nest in the high corner in a barn’s rafters, preparing for their soon-in-coming clutch of eggs. I picture a lush, untamed and untouched field of wildflowers, like an intricate tapestry of varying colors and textures, the petals and stems swaying in the caress of the warm breeze.

Doesn’t this picture of beauty still your soul a little? I notice that beautiful things tend to slow my pace. If I let it, beauty can melt away the fears and anxieties that are bound up inside my mind. It comforts pain and breathes life into weakness. Beauty gives a release to fear, as if seeing something lovely tells that vulnerable, fearful part of my heart “look, there is good here. There is hope and light. Take heart.”

In the Matthew 6 passage above, Jesus is talking about giving up worry over our needs, and giving them to Him instead. Can it be any coincidence that He used beautiful imagery to catch our attention and help us let go? He knew what beauty does for our hearts and souls. He created us, after all.

Pause a moment. I know you’re busy, and probably a lot is going on in your life right now, but it’s ok. You can give yourself 5-10 minutes. I want you to give yourself the space to go find some beauty!

• Take a few deep breaths.
• Find the closest window to the outdoors, and look out.
• What do you see?
• What things catch your attention, and why do you think you noticed? What strikes you as lovely or interesting?

When we give ourselves time and space to pause and notice, our heart and mind gets a needed reset from the fast pace we usually live in. It allows us to see the world God created as not only good, but extraordinarily, unbelievably beautiful.