This month’s Soul Matters theme explores Nurturing Beauty …

 

Beauty.

We appreciate it.

How could we not?

We wonder at it.

Get absorbed in it.

Analyze it, if it’s got a frame around it.

 

We make it.

Grow it.

Point at it.

Collect it.

Share it.

Save it.

 

But how often do we listen to it?

 

How often do we ask, “What is it trying to get me to hear?”

Rather than, “Do I like it or not?”

 

It’s just so hard to step outside

our mangled view of the world

that sees everything in the light of consumption.

Not everything is here for our possession.

Not everything is here to entertain us.

Not everything is meant to be put to use, even you.

 

We must find our way back,

to those questions that were once alive

but now are buried deep:

“What if beauty is here to make us wise?”

“What if beauty is the way the sacred speaks?”

 

Yes! Yes! It does so much more than decorate.

It demands. It calls. It asks for commitment.

It doesn’t just say “Love and appreciate me.”

It says “Protect me! Fight for me!”

It steps out in front of us and points to a precious world

that needs our help.

It paints a picture of new ways of living

and declares, “Follow me there!”

 

It says, “Even in hell holes I find a way to grow.”

It sings, “This world was made for more than work.”

It whispers, “Use me to heal.”

It pleads, “Nurture a new relationship with me. One that allows me to talk!”

 

So, what is it saying to you?

 

— from Soul Matters, adapted for UUFM