Would we really know it if we saw it. Does it exist in life or only in our minds. As humans we place labels on so many things. Maybe that's why living together is so tough. We are so accustomed to putting people into groups, that we hardly get to know each other as individuals. How are we to judge anything, when so much of who and what we are is clouded in our own particular shade of life. To accurately judge something, we'd have to be of open mind and soul, but we're humans.
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I guess that's why they say "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder". We look at the same object, yet see it so differently. Are our lives, our experiences, so frozen within our being, that it affects the way we see color, light or grey. Have we forsaken so much of what we could've become and settled for a body that uses less then 10% of its brain. Do we deserve to have any say on any object that isn't immediately relevant to us. Who are we to hand out praise or rejection, as if our observation is some how the gospel.
So what is beauty? Can you see it? Can you touch it? Is it something that we know or something that we feel. There are so many things we call beautiful, but why? There aren't any concrete facts to go by that show us what is and isn't beauty. Maybe beauty isn't real, but abstract. Like when you want someone to like you; you'll take whatever they say, even a simple hello and project it to mean more than it really does. Maybe beauty is nothing more than a projection of our desires. We want things to be as we perceive them and it doesn't matter if that's the way they really are.
If you found beauty, what would you do with it? Would you put it on display for all the world to see and admire and envy. Or would you lock it in a room, suffocate it and only bring it out to suit your needs. Could you handle having beauty or would it change you. Would you be able to accept the responsibility of knowing the whole world wanted what you had. As humans, are we mature enough to add beauty to our life, or would it become our life?
We only seem sure of what we want, when we don't have it, but once we have it, we have no clue about what to do with it. Yes, beauty is a nice concept, but we have to know that since we see it in so many things, that it really only exist in our minds. All those objects that we see beauty in, is nothing more than projections of a preconceived mind. Beauty isn't beauty unless we say it's so, it doesn't have the ability to become beauty on its own. We think beauty is a part of reality, but in reality, beauty is only a part of what we think.
"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified." (Isaiah 61:1-3).
So often at the lost of a love one, a big disappointment, or some emotional heartbreak, our emotions race up and down like a roller coaster out of control. In a state of shock, we probe the past visiting the memories of that distressing incident as our imagination run wild wondering what could have been, but is not.
The question that almost always haunts our mind in times like these is - "Why God - why me?" While powerless in the throes of pain and numbness, there often comes a sincere well-wisher with spiritual consolation and advice that doesn't seem to sooth our hurt. However we must look past the people, the consolation, the pain and sorrow, and look to Jesus. Everything else is simply a distraction.
It is important to recognize who we are - "we are Christians." This means that Jesus lives in us right now and right where we are in the mist of our ups and downs, and our pain and sorrow. He is the healing for our broken hearts, and the freedom from the power of depression, anxiety, and distress. The Holy Spirit is called the comforter, and He is in us to comfort and to give us beauty for ashes.
John wrote concerning Jesus; "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). So even when the outlook of our lives is dark and gloomy, Christ in us is the light that lights our pathways. He is the hope that assures us a brighter day - today - right now. Because He lives in us we are never alone. Because Jesus is the love of God in us, we are never unloved. Because we are one with Him, we are never forsaken. This means we should never think of ourselves independently of Christ.
The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:13B-17 NLT; "But you can't say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead. Don't you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don't you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, "The two are united into one." But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him."
We were created to live in union with Christ, and when we are not abiding in Him our lives are dysfunctional. Jesus said; "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me" (John 6:57). Therefore Jesus is our life, joy, peace, and everything in every moment that life requires regardless of the conditions.
So we live and experience life (in every circumstance) from the foundation of Christ being our lives. This means that He is the all in us - the all in all. Now what does that really means? It means that Jesus is our sufficiency! Another way of saying it is; "Christ is all that we need at all times."
It is important to recognize that the foundation of our peace or rest is not based on the absence of conflict, but rather the abiding presence of Jesus within us. This tells us that peace can never be found in our circumstances, but Jesus alone. Since Christ is our all, He is our joy, peace, and contentment in spite of the conditions. Jesus is the adequacy within us to deal with everything we face in all of life - "to live is Christ."
However when we see ourselves as the center of life rather than Jesus, we will measure life and all its circumstances from our position. The problem with this is: "we are limited in wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and ability - we are not God."
From this position, we lean to our own understanding instead of trusting God who is infinite in wisdom to direct us. So when the circumstances of life are beyond our control, we become worried and frustrated. Even though we say we love God, read and quote the bible, what He says have no reality to us in the hard places of life.
The real truth is; God's words had little or no reality to us in the good times. The hardships of life just revealed where our trust was. Many Christians mistakenly view their good experiences, lack of conflict or pleasant circumstances, as being the basis of faith, and the proof of their approval from God. So when they encounter stressful conditions, they look to themselves or others, instead of looking to Jesus. However remember that as long as our focus is on anything (or anyone) other than Jesus, we are distracted.
The apostle said; "Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2).
Nothing can steal the peace or joy of a believer who trusts in Jesus because He (Jesus) is the (prince of) peace, and the joy of our salvation. As the song says; "this peace (joy) I have the world didn't give it, and the world can't take it away." Recognize that the hard places in life only reveal our weakness and inability to live life independently of God, to the end that we look to Him.
Since God is Love, we can be assured that He loves us. This is a firm foundation to trust Him to be our sufficiency in all of life's circumstances. For we know that all things are working together for our good, and thus we are able to rejoice, praise, and give thanks to Him at all times.