Seeing Beauty Gives Me Hope

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HOPE IS A THING WITH PLUSH-FUR

So many terrible things are happening on the world scene, and in the lives of people we know. Sometimes it’s hard to keep from feeling that today, and our future, is nearly hopeless. Yet, in his epistle to the Philippians, Paul admonishes us: “Whatsoever is pure…lovely…honest…of good report…, think on these things.” (Phil. 4:8) It’s not that we are to “be in denial” that bad things are happening. But it’s making a choice to trust our Lord and God IN ALL THINGS. We choose to remember his goodness and mercy – and his gift to us of continually making beautiful things for us to “think on”.




Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all…
--Emily Dickenson


My comparison:

Hope is the thing with plush-fur
That delights my very soul,
For she sings the tune – without the words,
And never stops at all…

Playing with Dickenson’s words, I’m referring to Hope, my lovely white cat. She’s a beauty! Looking at her uplifts my mood – and a renewed sense of hope flutters in my soul. When I speak to her, she gazes soulfully – attentively -- into my eyes. And that stirs me so deeply I tell her, out loud: “You’re so-o-o beautiful.”

Dickenson “feels” that inner-hope is singing a tune without words. When I think of Hope, my cat, singing without words, I’m not considering her “meow” (though it is soft, gentle, and infrequent). Rather, her very presence reminds me of the lovely God who has given us his lovely creation, and who empowers us to go on hoping, whether our journey takes us into the best of times or the worst of times.

My Beautiful God, my Lord and Savior, encourages me through Nature’s abundance of beauties. One of his beauty-gifts is the profusion of flowers. A branch I plucked from a flowering tree, again reminds me of how God’s beauty touches and renews me!

Truly He is everywhere! And in everything! Thanks be unto God.


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Photos and text copyright 2011 by Marilee Miller

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This entry is also shared with "Seedlings in Stone" On, In and Around Mondays

http://seedlingsinstone.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-in-and-around-mondays-when-compass.html

And with "The Wellspring" Playdates with God

http://www.lauraboggess.com/2011/08/playdates-with-god-notes-from-sea.html



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