Beauty in the Simple
“The power of finding beauty in the humblest of things makes home happy and life lovely.”
For my 13th birthday, my father gifted me the most lovely copy of Little Women. I started the book that year and read it non-stop until sometime during college. Not joking. I always had that book going. Other books were cycled in and out at the same time, but no other book (other than the Bible) has had such an impact on my heart.
I am an aficionado of the book. Semi-professional, at the least. This vast knowledge makes it very complicated for me to watch movie versions of the book, particularly new ones. God bless my family when we watch them and I try so hard not to keep a running dialogue about the part that makes me furious. I do try to stop myself. I do.
But it wasn’t until this quote and this particular year ( 37 years later ) that I realized something. It was the beauty in the simplicity that drew me over and over and over. Their lives weren’t perfect. They had many challenges. But there was beauty interlaced throughout the hard. I have been drawn to the lovely fingerprints of our Good Father in their home.
I’m drawn to beauty in simple things.
And I venture to guess you are drawn to simple things, too.
This is a subject worth considering and often. Where do you see the beauty around you? We can miss it if we aren’t purposefully looking.
But there is also a beauty that comes from ashes. I see that demonstrated in the lives of the characters as they navigate their challenges. When Amy allows her temper to rule her decisions, she must then learn to humble herself and repent. When Jo chooses bitterness over forgiveness, her sister almost dies and she learns a hard lesson that forever changes her. The girls also let their fear and anxious thoughts of their beloved father being at war propel them forward to live lives that would make him proud of his “little women” when he returned.
I can see in my lifetimes that looked the bleakest, when ashes were all around, that God turned those places into the rich soil for my growth. And often, this was in the simplest of ways. And what amazes me is that when I look back at those times now, I can see fingerprints of God that were places of beauty amid hardship.
A weekend after my dad died, we took all our kids and went to the Smokies. We were all in the car driving over a high ridge, seeing the fall leaves all around us. And the song “Like You Were Dying” came on the radio.
“I went skydiving, I went Rocky Mountain climbing,
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu
And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying
And he said, “Some day I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.”
But the line that gets me every time says,
“And all of a sudden goin’ fishin’ wasn’t such an imposition
And I went three times that year I lost my dad.”
It was simple but powerful. I won’t ever forget that moment, and I am now crying as I type this. (I know you aren’t surprised.) The joy of having all my kids together and being reminded to live this life to the fullest was a pivotal moment for me. But it was a simple one, too. What seems like a simple thing to do that would mean so much.
The simple things…
Mary took a jar of perfume.
David picked up a rock.
Paul used his pen. (And so did Jo.)
Moses had a staff.
Jesus used a well.
Zacchaeus climbed a tree.
Everyday things that left a beautiful mark on the earth. Humble items that impacted lives in the loveliest of ways.
What is in your hand? What simple thing is around you, even right now, that you can use to partner with the Lord and impact the world around you, even if it is in one small, beautiful act?
Maybe it is a fishing pole.
A garden hoe.
A cricket machine.
A sewing machine.
Knitting needles.
Your culinary skills.
A cup of coffee.
A hug.
A book.
Look around you for the humble. Watch for the beautiful. Slow down to experience the joy that comes with the simple. God is there in those places. Don’t miss Him. You are invited in.
