A thought by Daniel Fusco, from his book, Crazy Happy (p. 8). The Crown Publishing Group, Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)
And that is something we want to see, isn't it?
Daniel says, "What I’ve discovered is this: plain and simple, the only reason you and I are so dissatisfied with our lives is because we don’t see them as beautiful. You think I’m making this up, but I’m not. Not seeing our lives as beautiful holds us back from the happiness and satisfaction we’re meant to experience."
He goes on, "I learned this in the great philosophy classroom of the college party. (Bear with me. It’s worth it.) Party after party did nothing to satisfy my thirst for happiness and meaning in life. I was the guy who handled vibe control for parties all over the city. I made sure they were the best anyone ever went to. But I remember sitting on my dorm bed one night, saying, 'This is supposed to be fun, but it’s not fun anymore.'
"No amount of drinking or drugs made me happy. No number of relationships made me feel loved. Later, after I became a Christian, I still fruitlessly pursued satisfaction—but as a self-righteous legalist. I tried to find happiness through all the ways my life was pleasing to God—how much better I was in God’s eyes than I used to be, not to mention how much better I was than other people. But none of it worked. It was all just a bandage for a deeper wound.
"I’ve since learned that’s just the normal trial-and-error process we all go through when our lives lack beauty.
"You see, longing is human. And seeking satisfaction for our deep desires, even more so. But what most of us don’t realize is that true beauty is actually what we’re all longing for."
He continues, "The famous author Fyodor Dostoyevsky said it simply: 'Beauty will save the world.' And I believe that! But what I would argue is that beauty has already saved the world, and the work God wants to do today in this generation is teach us how to live the beautiful lives he designed us for—to live so inseparably linked to Jesus (the only person whose life has ever been characterized by perfect beauty) that we start to exhibit the very beauty we’re all deeply longing for.
"And that’s also when the world around us becomes beautiful in the way God intended.
"You know you have found what you are looking for when you are happy. And not just happy in the general sense, but something beyond happiness."
He then says, "Our deep ache for this beyond-happy life is something we can hardly put into words most of the time. The concept of a beautiful life can be vague. We don’t want beauty in an abstract sense, floating out there in the ether, something intangible that we appreciate but can’t quite grasp. We want to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it and become part of it. As we behold Jesus and the beauty of what God has done for us, we don’t just see it from a distance; we find ourselves yearning for true oneness with Jesus."
And that is so true, isn't it?
Yes, yes!
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