Beauty Draws Us to God by Mary Folkerts

 

We all know just how cracked and broken this world and we ourselves are, yet when I read Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts, she challenges me to search for beauty like a woman on a mission.

The One who created us created beauty all around us—
in cloud formations,
in the giggle of the little one,
the tender embrace of a friend,
in quiet words of comfort received,
in the chatter of the early morning birds,
the sweep of the prairie grasses,
in the steam off of your first morning cup of coffee,
in the expanse of the ripening yellow canola fields,
the cluster of cows grazing.
The more we look for beautiful,
the more our eyes
will be trained to see it,
our ears tuned to listen for it.

If the One who formed us in His image is responsible for all the extravagant beauty we see, surely He mandates us also to create beauty. He gives the ability and passion to create, be it with our hands or words, but sometimes struggles in life cripple us, and we are unable to create beauty, let alone see the beauty God places before us.

Could we find our way back to beauty by intentionally seeking the many ways God has gifted us with it through creation? Could beauty itself be part of our healing? And what if, in the process, we begin to find ways to create our own beauty again?

Creating has a two-fold purpose: in it, we find delight and restoration for our souls, but it is also the fruit of delight for others to partake in, drawing them into the secret of God’s extravagant beauty. It is God’s creative handiwork that ignites our creativity, allowing us to be co-creators with Him in His grand design!

Could your words be the beauty someone needs to hear?

There is a yearning
inside—
My spirit calls for
something
just out of reach.
I can’t quite place it,
it’s like an ache
or an emptiness
that needs filling.

Sometimes I feel it
in the melody.
The music
washes over my soul
like rain
soaking a parched ground,
and I begin to feel it.
My tears with the haunting
refrain—
maybe it’s in the
music.

Maybe it’s a need for
beauty.
The morning sky splashed
in color,
the evening glow as
day is done,
chasing the sun in its
perpetual glory.
Yes! Beauty of the
natural!

The tiny green shoot
forcing its way through
warming earth,
the ocean vast and endless
captures me, mesmerizes
and touches a small part
of the yearning
inside—
I need more of nature
then.
I will surround myself with
mountains, rivers, oceans
beaches, flowers.
I will adventure and
bask.
I will breathe deeply and
let beauty fill the
cracks inside.
But I sense it’s more—
not quite enough.
It’s the beginning, it’s like
a taste, still searching,
I can almost grasp it.

What?
What am I
missing?

Is the beauty of nature
pointing me
to more?
Is it the hand of God
I see?
Is it the sweet echo of a
song once heard?
Is it God that fills
the empty?
Was I made for more
than the material world
I can see and grasp?
My spirit longs
for what only
can be filled
by God
Himself.

 

Mary Folkerts is mom to four kids and wife to a farmer, living on the southern prairies of Alberta, where the skies are large and the sunsets stunning. She is a member of Proverbs 31 Ministries' COMPEL Writers Training, involved in church ministries and music. Mary’s blog aims to encourage and inspire women and advocate for those with Down Syndrome, as their youngest child introduced them to this extraordinary new world. For more inspiration, check out Joy in the Small Things https://maryfolkerts.com/ or connect on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/maryfolkerts/