I believe it was Stendhal who said “Beauty is the promise of happiness.”
Today I was reading a book called “Answers in the Heart” a daily meditation for men and women who are recovery from sexual addictions. In one of its chapters it read:
Often we are too busy or self-absorbed to notice what is beautiful in people & in the world around us. We hurry along focused on ourselves, inattentive to what really makes life worth living.
I couldn’t agree more.
The world is filled with beauty – twilight over a lake, a child’s laughter, a scene in a movie, the sun on a stone wall, a weeping willow, a lively song, our beloved’s face. If we are attentive & learn to slow down, we will see all around us signs of beauty that speak directly to us.
We do not have to go to exotic places to find beauty. It is here, in our lives, all around us. Finding it, we carry it with us & our lives are enriched. The language of beauty is the language of joy.
Application and Implementation
As I become more attentive to the beauty that is all around me, I find my life becoming happier & more deeply spiritual.
This week I will stop praying so hard for my character defects & difficulties to be removed. Instead I will rest in the fact that God has my life in His hands, if I will allow Him to carry me I can take the time to see His beauty all around me.
How can this not bring me a spirit of happiness?
This is Monty’man wishing Serenity For You!
Yes Monty, While in my addiction I lost my creativity. I felt I had a creative mind growing up, but my preocupation with addictive behaviour took the air out of the drive I had.
I have noticed the empty look in the eyes of the addicted. We become so focused on self, as you read, that we are like zombies, at least I was! After many years, and only after many years, of sobriety did I begin to have some life in me again.My creativity is a sign of the return to life I so long sought. I thought God was a tit-for-tat God who would punish me endlessly for my transgressions, I was wrong! He loves me with an everlasting love which kept no record of wrongs. God has given me an abundant life as He promised, I work hard at being a part of it. My wife loves and respects me, I get paid to spread the gospel, heaven awaits! I will allow Him to continue carrying me and I will observe the beauty in the lives of those around me as well as my own. Jim Gantner