BEAUTY IN THE BALANCE

BY PAUL ASPEN

PHOTO BY ELIZABETH ANNA NOLEN

REFLECTION:

Beauty is always found in balance; the hypnotic perfection of a master martial artist and the aesthetic glory of a simple ceramic vase, the balance of night and day, lights and shadows, joyful sounds and a joyful soul. When things are in balance, matched evenly, they are beautiful—even the haunting sincerity of tears shed in anguish and the repentant wail of one who has wronged someone deeply and faces the truth head-on. Modern voices claim you can create it artificially, with injections of this or that, pastes and powders, fabrics, postures, catchphrases, practiced actions: How is more artifice ever going to result in more beauty?

PRAYER:

God, help us to recognize Your beauty. So often in my imbalance I overstress one of Your attributes and forget in Your perfection You exist in balance. Perfectly between love and justice, truth and grace, generosity and exact repayment. When we think too hard, we forget You are beautiful. You're not just right and good, You aren't just deserving of our love and adoration and worship because of Your attributes, but while we could do so, we can also appreciate and glimpse Your beauty; You paint sunsets and sunrises, clouds and puddles, You write the song and make the wind sing with its voice. Help us to see the beauty You decided to put into the world, and more than that help us to think harder, and be more present: You were expressing Yourself in Your own beauty by weaving beauty into the world, help us to see You oh God! Marvelous are Your works, but do we praise the house or the builder? We give You our praises now and forever; help us see. Amen.

TODAY’S WORSHIP SET:

Lord, You're Beautiful (Keith Green), Be Still and Know (Amy Grant), Let Me Love You More (Misty Edwards)

TAKE IT HOME:

Set your living space more in order. Appoint a place for each item that matches form and function, set things in proper balance. If need be, eliminate artifice where you find it and opt for sloppy instead of perfect control: Life is not about the cold ice of a cubic zirconium, but the dance of living energy like flames!

This passage is taken from The Dawn and the Dusk, a book series by Paul Aspen. Published with permission.