Sabbath Devotional: All Things Bright and Beautiful
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
This is going to be an unusual devotional, but bear with me. Back in January, facing what I already knew was going to be a climb of a year, I decided that I was not going to burden myself further by attempting to make New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I determined that the best thing I could do over the course of the next 365 days would be to purposefully try to insert some joy into my life.
So, on the afternoon of January 1st, I sat down and did two things. First, I wrote down one specific and measurable goal: I was going to go out of my way to watch, support and experience 26 live performances over the course of the year. This could include music, theater, dance and vocal performance, and it might mean paying for tickets, or it could just be showing up to cheer and support amateurs who had practiced, prepared and were putting their talents out into the world.
Second, I crafted a list of 26 things I was going to do, experience or learn over the next twelve months. But the key was committing to do this with no pressure, and not in the pursuit of mastery or perfection. These were things that I hoped would add some lift and light to my workaday world. That list hangs on my refrigerator, and the items range from the abstract (use my nice things), to the concrete (spend an evening at Wingaersheek Beach). It is a really gentle and lovely list that carries no urgency, and makes no demands. In fact, it actually brings me joy just to read it.
With both of these objectives in mind, I jumped into the year with a little bit of happy purpose. A few months in, when I was reflecting on what a remarkable difference this whole enterprise had already made in my life, something clicked. I realized that the majority of the things I’d decided to pursue, and every single one of the live performances I have chosen, had one very simple thing in common — they have been beautiful. It turns out that I wasn’t really on a quest for joy, I was looking for beauty. I was actually starved for it.
When I say beauty, I am not talking about the thing we now mostly use that word to describe — the appearance of women with manipulated faces and bodies and expensive clothing. Nor does it apply to cookie cutter homes or Instagram illusions. This is all a counterfeit. Instead, for me beauty is a quality of loveliness or goodness that is pleasing to the spirit, a little bit transcendent and even reflective of the divine. It is deeply personal, and carries the stamp of a unique human soul. It is creative, generative, and feeds rather than depletes others.
I am delighted to report that microdosing myself with beauty has been a fantastic and fruitful experiment with some unintended consequences. Certainly I am happier, but most importantly, this whole enterprise has brought about a real and joyful spiritual awakening in me!
As I have basked in the truly amazing gifts of others, I have been reminded once again of the worth of souls. When watching people perform, there have been moments when I have honestly felt flashes of the love and pride that our Heavenly Parents must have for these beautiful children of theirs! My ability to love others and revel in their uniqueness and differences has effortlessly increased. (D&C 46)
This project has reawakened me to the enormous beauty of the earth. I have been reminded that in spite of the afflictions that are part and parcel of this mortal life, we have been gifted a truly glorious place in which to live out our days. I have felt God meet me in nature and nudge me gently in his direction. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
I believe creativity is a fruit of the Spirit, and always thought it flowed one way, but it turns out you can reverse generate that! As I have opened myself to some low-stakes creative pursuits, it has unlocked my brain and somehow been easier for the Spirit to reach me in different areas of my life. Because of this I have found myself responding with greater imagination and hope when faced with more high-stakes challenges.
Since January, I have heard some glorious religious music performed in sacred spaces, and it has given me a much needed shot in the arm. Over the last few years, it has been increasingly difficult for me to feel the Spirit in ways that I had in the past, and a few of these performances have somehow broken through that. They have become sacred memories. (Proverbs 100:1-5)
All of these realizations have also made my work with MWEG more meaningful. So many of our collective efforts are dedicated to preserving the freedoms and systems that allow for a diverse human experience and make truly beautiful and individual expressions possible. My quests have made this work more pleasurable as well as more purposeful.
But above all else, I have been reminded of the promise that God offers to all of us who are weighed down by the cares of the world: “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)
I entered the year mourning a bit, but as I have turned my face toward beauty, joy and praise, I have felt myself to be more firmly planted and have also been given greater cause to glorify God. I believe that he wants us to live in a world filled with things that are “virtuous, lovely, of good report and praiseworthy” and has done all that he can to offer them to us. All we need to do is reach for true beauty. If we are lucky, we might also find that what we actually grasp is Him.
*Help brighten our day! If you feel so moved, share some beauty in the comments.
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Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com
Jennifer Walker Thomas is a co-executive director at Mormon Women for Ethical Government.
