Appreciating Beauty

 Like many of us, I enjoy visiting new places and exploring them. In the last month or so, I have enjoyed visiting both Pembrokeshire and mid-Wales and glorying in the beautiful landscapes. So Ralph Waldo Emerson's words resonate with me: "We enjoy travelling the world to find beauty, but we have to carry it within us, otherwise we won't find it."

There are two ways of walking in the world: blindly or attentively. Sometimes, we turn into "walking heads", so full of our thoughts that we simply do not see the beauty around us. And that is such a waste... I have sometimes "woken up" part way through a walk round our village or in the Forest, and have realised that I was thinking about something completely different, and had not been present at all to the beauty around me.

And there always is beauty, even in city streets. In fact, I find it astonishing, on the rare occasions when I visit cities these days, the amount of green that is there. And of course, there is also beauty in man-made objects like buildings and statues, and street art... even advertisement hoardings can be beautiful. As are people.

But we have to be awake to it, have to be attentive to it. We have to "carry it within us", as Emerson says. Otherwise, we will not find it.

Last year, I wrote a blogpost about miracles here. And I wrote, "Our world is full of miracles, if we have eyes to see." Which is exactly what Emerson is talking about, but about beauty, rather than miracles. And I finished the post with a marvellous prayer which Rachel Naomi Remen shared in her wonderful book, My Grandfather's Blessings. I would like to repeat it here, as it is as true about beauty as it is about miracles. Because beauty is a miracle...

"Days pass and the years vanish

and we walk sightless among miracles.

Lord, fill our eyes with seeing

and our minds with knowing.

Let there be moments when your Presence,

like lightning, illuminates

the darkness in which we walk.

Help us to see, wherever we gaze,

that the bush burns, unconsumed.

And we, clay touched by God,

will reach out for holiness and

exclaim in wonder,

'How filled with awe is this place

and we did not know it.'"

May we all have the sight to perceive the everyday miracles in our lives and the beauty all around us. Amen

Attending To What We Love

This morning I came across a passage in the book I am reading, How, then, shall we live? by Wayne Muller, which has really made me pause and think about how I spend my days. It reads:

Mobile Lovers by Banksy (image from jonnybaker.blogs.com)

"Attention is a tangible measure of love. Whatever receives our time and attention becomes the center of gravity, the focus of our life. This is what we do with what we love: we allow it to become our center. ... We become what we love. Whatever you are giving your time and attention to, day after day, this is the kind of person you will eventually become. Is this what you want?"

And I have realised that although by and large I am content with the way in which I spend my days (I am doing a job which I am passionate about, and I think I've got my work/life balance about right), there are two areas which I am not happy with, which are actually (natch!) related: the amount of quality time I spend with my husband, and the amount of time I spend on my iPad, interacting with Facebook friends.

It has been a bit of a wake-up call. Facebook is a subtle addiction, but an addiction nonetheless. I don't want to end up like one of Banksy's mobile lovers, ostensibly embracing my beloved while actually texting somebody else. So it stops. Here. Now. In the evenings at least, when I am in my husband's (or any other) company, Facebook is irrelevant.