life in technicolor

Life is beautiful.

That is not to say that life is perfect, that life is easy, or that life is always good. There is pain in the fabric of our lives. We enter the world with the groans of childbirth, we face challenges that seem insurmountable. Loved ones pass away, families crumble, friends betray, dreams don't always come to pass. Life is confusing and painful and unfair. Everyday, it seems, we move further from perfection, deeper into a pit of devastation, ignoring the intentions of God for our lives. Good people suffer, hearts break, chaos surrounds us, people are hungry, people are sick, people are lost.

Tonight I sleep in my bed, but tomorrow, I could be swallowed by the earth, left as skin and bones, my soul flying to a new world. There is no promise--life is but a breath, a fleeting moment.

And still, it is beautiful.

The heartache that we feel when a loved one dies proves that life is precious, that life is sacred. The devastation caused by a broken family shows that relationships are important, that love is important. Dreams prove that our lives have meaning, that what we do matters, that we have a purpose. Our heart aches for those in suffering because we have an intrinsic understanding, a deep knowledge that life is beautiful, life is valuable, life matters.

A leper suffers in silence, stigma attached to his very being. No one will touch him, no one will hold him, no one will care for him. And yet, he smiles, and he laughs. Would laughter exist were life not beautiful?

Would color exist if not to show us the beauty of our surroundings, of art, the beauty of expression, the beauty of our souls? And don't sprinkles just make you happy?? Would humans connect so deeply to music and art, would so many have the gift of creativity if life were not, ultimately, beautiful? Would travel and adventure be so exciting if life were not to be explored and enjoyed? Would good company and good conversation bring us so much comfort and hope if life was insignificant, if people were an afterthought?

Would I have ten fingers and ten toes if this life were not made for me? Would I have eyes to see and ears to hear the majesty of the earth, the compassion in others, the love offered to me?

"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars." -Henry Van Dyke

Life is beautiful. If life were not so, flowers would wilt, music would cease; laughter would turn to tears. If life were not beautiful, the sun would cease to rise and set, the waves would cease to crash; the hope of a new morning would disappear. Food would lose its flavor, hugs would make us cringe, conversation would turn to silence; babies would no longer smile, the sky would turn black, love would lose its power.

But it is not so. Regardless of circumstance, life is beautiful. There is suffering and injustice that we were never intended to experience, that we cannot understand, that we are desperate to change. Left to our own devices, we have chosen death. And yet life is beautiful, and Beauty is redemptive, Beauty is healing.

Our God, and our hope, is found in the beauty of life; our God is found in the midst of suffering, rising the sun every morning, filling our hearts with joy, bringing beauty forth from ashes.