A Beautiful Thing

                                         

“Beauty grows in you to the extent that love grows, because charity itself is the soul’s beauty.” ~ St. Augustine

When we find ourselves in a season of change by the things that surround us, we either look for something stable to hold on to or we start changing things ourselves to distract from the impending shift. Change is a funny thing. It's like time. It's a bit of an intangible. The more we try to grasp something that is changing, the more it slips away. The ocean ever ebbs and flows in its waves, and so do our lives on this earth.

What we may forget or fail to think about is the change that comes within ourselves in the midst of all of that. An artist may alter his work any number of times before its "just right" and in the process it may seem distorted before it is finished. In moments where we fear there is no growth and its a lot uncertainties, unknowns, and maybe even a sense of hesitancy within, that is just the time to keep going and not turn back.

Transformation is a tough road. It takes a lot of effort, time, hard work, and above all an openness. We spin and spin our wheels, until we finally realize this truth . . . we can't do it ourselves. At a certain point, we all have to come to the realization that we have to get out of the way and let God do what He wants with (and in) us.

The soul is a work of beauty . . . His beauty. If we let Him, He can work His wonders for us. We have to give our consent. He won't do it without us, but He leaves us free. He may let us fail over and over simply so that we see the truth of our dependence upon Him, our need for His grace, and the joy of surrendering our will to Him.

Our goal should not be so much how much I can do for God, but growing in our acceptance of what God can do in us . . . and that is a triumph. The beauty of the soul--the splendor of divine life--that is peace, that is joy, that brings union.