It's said that people in love often see their lover through rose colored glasses, enhancing the beauty and detracting the flaws. They see pleasure, excitement, and fervor where others see realism, deficiencies, and vices. Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder when you are a wearer of rose colored glasses. While I don't suggest going out and buying yourself a pair of these often deceptive spectacles, I do think there is something to be learned from their optimistic effects.
It can be so easy, so effortless in this peculiar life to become ungrateful. To complain, to casually ignore blessings altogether- these things are not strangers in our world. But God has laid the blessings thick on this planet and beyond it, and to ignore those blessings seems almost sinful. Over these past four months of Asian travel I have seen fantastic blessings in the form of physical beauty. My eyes have seen the glory of God through stately mountains, transparent seas, exotic fruits. I have walked through ancient grounds and felt the presence of my timeless God- at The Forbidden Temple in Beijing, The Great Wall of China, Angkor Wat Temple in Siem Reap. Blessings have inundated me through the Asian children: shy smiles and pristine skin of Chinese children, barefoot giggles and explorations of little Thai darlings, joy filled early mornings and eager aid from the beautiful children of Cambodia, and adorable, little curious faces of the young Malaysians. I have experienced God's goodness and blessing through unlikely foreign friendships. The beauty in a newfound friend on the other side of the globe is more of a blessing than I am able to describe. The blessings I have seen, felt, experienced, have been un-ignorable. And through experiencing them, allowing them to permeate my being, change my perception, and to turn to thankfulness; I can honestly say that I have experienced more of God. But experiencing these blessings overseas has also stirred in me a question…do these blessings, these beauties grow at home? And if so, do I harvest joy and thankfulness through their existence?
It is true that the more of the world I have seen, the more of God's infinite blessings that I have experienced, the more able I am to identify the innumerable blessings in my own life, in my own home. Illinois may not be exactly what many people envision when they ponder beauty. But I assure you, God has lavishly blessed the land of flat plains and stretching farms. I see it, and I cannot wait to truly experience God through it when I return home.
However, do not be misled by my confidence through this blog post. This identification of blessings, seer of God beauty is something I am still only beginning to comprehend. In fact, this month in Malaysia has been the month in which I have struggled with it the most. Ministry often seems scarce as we must be discreet, and free time is abundant. Defaulting to complaining, to an ignorance of blessings here has been quite easy. But I choose to fight through the battle of my mind and seek the beauty in this place, to see the overflow of God blessings here. I choose to live each day with a thankfulness to God, to see the world and my life through glasses marked not by a rose colored tint, not by ignorance, but by the intenseness and joy of God beauty. As Ann Voskamp puts it, " …[that] seeing eyes might illuminate the glory of Christ in all."
Love,
Kara
