He is the Beauty

Think

"It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.

"It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal."

~St. John Paul the Great

The ideals of youth that shape--the grand plans, the ways we are going to be better, wiser, more noble--those aren't just youthful illusions. They are the whispers of the spirit on our souls. They are the ways the Potter takes us in his hands and begins to shape a masterpiece of our lives. 

And when those ideals meet reality several years later? They are still the movement of the Spirit in our daily round.. He reminds us--not to torment us with shattered dreams and the bitterness of disappointment. No!  He wants to bring the vision for beauty and greatness and yes-- even happiness-- to clarity by shining upon it the light of experience. It's still Jesus! He's still provoking us with a thrust for fullness! He's still the beauty.

Pray

God, grant me the grace to hear you and please, please strengthen me to answer your call. Push away the doubts and the discouragement that clutter my mind. let me see you clearly and understand how you beckon me to follow you. 

Act

Bring beauty into your home today. Do it for you and just for you. Buy a little bouquet. Or rearrange a corner of a room or a shelf and put some of your favorite things there. Start a new embroidery project or spray paint something that needs new life breathed into it. Whatever you do, do it as a reminder. Set it before yourself as a beacon of hope. Your life will be as shining as that beautiful expression of His grace that you envisioned in the past. More beautiful, really, as He shines the bright spots and deepens the crevices with the patina of grace.