Spiritual Journey Thursday: Beauty

It's the first Thursday of the month
and time to show up with my friends 
for Spiritual Journey Thursday. 
Karen is hosting this month and

selected the word beauty for our theme.

The first thing that popped into my mind when I read Karen's choice of beauty as our theme for this month was the hymn "For the Beauty of the Earth." I love the simple rendition of this hymn in the movie "Little Women." I love thinking of all the beautiful things mentioned in the hymn - earth, skies, love, each hour, day, night, hill, vale, tree, flower, sun, moon, stars of light, love of family, love of friends. 

The second thing that I thought of was this scripture, when Isaiah speaks of the Messiah: "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." (Isaiah 61:3) The refrain to the first hymn, "Lord of all to thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise," and the words from the scripture, "the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," remind us that praise to the Lord can indeed lighten our burdens, something that all of us need.

I can't write a post about beauty without reflecting on the difference between the world's definition of beauty and the beauty that is reflected in the face of a life well lived. It's a beauty that isn't defined by the world's standards, but rather by what is given in service to others. This philosophy is best summed up in a quote by Marjorie Pay Hinckley: "I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sisters Schenk's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

My "beauty" google search reminded me of this quote I love by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting." And there's also this favorite quote by Lucy Maud Montgomery: "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."  And so I close with a dozen pics of October's beauty and magnificence!