Thoughts from today

My kids and I started school this week.  We use Sonlight as our core curriculum because it is literature based and if you haven't gotten the hint yet, I like to read:)  Anyway, we are currently reading
Red Sails to Capri , (which I have never read before) and two things from today's chapter really stuck with me so I'm going to share them with you.

The main character Michele is out on a walk with a painter.  The two thoughts come from conversations that the two of them are having.  The first conversation is discussing people that they know:

I look for a bit of beauty no matter where I go, and Monsieur Jacques is forever searching for adventure.  And we find it, Michele.  I think some way or other most people find the things they look for.  Perhaps your friend Angelo is searching for gaiety, Michele.  He must find something to laugh about, something to make others laugh.  When he doesn't find it he makes it up. That's his way of finding what's important to him. 

Well, I've either lost you by now, or your still hanging with me.  For some reason this really stuck with me.  It made me think about my personality and other people's personality.  I guess, I related to Angelo.  I do search for gaiety.  I like life to be lighthearted and fun.  When I don't see people laughing, I desire to bring a smile to their face.  It's not like I didn't know that about myself before, but for some reason, this passage made me really reflect on it and see the value in it.  I would love it if you would indulge me with your response of what you "search for in life."  What do you search for in life, that you need to see brought forth?  How do you bring it forth when it cannot be found?

The second part that stood out to me was this:  the chapter was titled "The Most Beautiful Spot" the painter (a visitor to the island) was having Michele (a native) take him to the most beautiful spot on the island so the painter could paint it.  On the way to the spot they have to walk up stairs, Michele states that he hates the stairs, he describes them as a "great scar on the side of the mountain."  The artist spends the day painting and Michele doesn't know what he is painting, but he assumes the painter is painting the sky, the sea and the mountainside.  At the end of the day, the artist shows Michele the picture.  The painter chose to paint the steps.  Here is the conversation:

"Why did you go to the most beautiful spot on Capri and then paint something else?" 

"Your spot was too beautiful Michele."

"Too beautiful?"

"Yes.  I don't believe there is enough paint in the world to paint a picture of that spot as it should be painted.  You don't need an artist to show you the beauty of a place like that.  But your ugly steps - if I have made you see a bit of beauty in them, Michele, I am very happy."

Perhaps I have had one to many chocolate chip cookies today, but that scene almost took my breath away and I haven't been able to shake it all day.  Perhaps it is related to a blog brewing in my heart, that I'm not ready to write yet, but it has to do with what God does with our scars.  When I read that the steps were a great scar on the side of the mountain I cringed.  Then I read this part:

"I never thought they were beautiful at all.  I thought they were ugly."

"Perhaps you have never looked at them before."

"Looked at them? I have looked at them a thousand times."
"Sometimes we never look at the things we see most often."

We all have ugly areas in our lives.  Great scars that we see all the time but we prefer to hide them and have them disappear.  Yet in the hands of a great artist even that which is ugly can be made beautiful. 

"Those colors in the rocks-are they really there?"

"I saw them there."

"And the steps-do they loop and turn like that?"

"Exactly like that."

"You have made them look like a stairway to heaven!"

When we step back and see through His eyes, that is when the beauty shines through.  I guess I have a couple scars that I've been doing my darnedest to get rid of.  I'd rather forget that they are there.  After today's reading I'm thinking He is saying, "Let's look at them again, under My light and I will show you how they are a stairway to Me."  So I am sure there will be at least one more post on this topic.  In the meantime, reflect on giving the Great Artist a chance to create beauty out of your scars.

In Christ,