The Beauty of Ugliness

This weekend brought out a depth of beauty that I haven't seen in a while.  It was by no means a nice weekend as far as weather was concerned.  It rained a lot and was pretty chilly.  Maybe I am simply emotional because a very good friend got married today.  But I really don't think so.  

Yesterday, I woke up on my day off and it was raining.  Bummer, right?  No way.  I got up, got dressed, and went to the farmer's market, which was lovely in and of itself.  Today, it was cloudy, windy, cold, and still threatening rain, though it wasn't wet just yet.  But the colors of the farm fields have turned to this golden yellow and against the stormy, steel-blue colored sky, the colors stood out and took my breath away.  

Tonight, as it rained on the way home from Becca and Andy's wedding, the raindrops formed this beautiful blur of street lamp light through the soon-to-be fallen leaves on the trees.  I put in a Nickel Creek cd and listened to Pastures New while I went to get some gas and just enjoyed the beauty of something that did not seem to be innately beautiful.  But it was.  

Somethings are strikingly beautiful and everyone knows that they are such.  Becca walking in the back door of the chapel today was a stunning sight.  She was the first bride to ever literally take my breath away.  And the love they have for each other is obvious and evident and beautiful in that.  

But then there are those things that are beautiful that get passed by every day.  

The chocolate color of the ground only takes on when it has been raining for 3 days straight.  

The yellow and browned leaves trickling onto the sidewalk below a series of oak trees.

The unresolved chord at the end of a song played on a fiddle.

The wrinkled and burden-beaten hands of my dad.  

The way in which people choose to love each other in relationships, friendships and romantic alike, despite the ugliness of human nature.  The commitment to love people and show grace will always be the most beautiful and astounding thing in the world to me.  And it is always something that I will strive to be better at because I am saved to do so.  The beyond-beauty of the reconciliation of the world to a God that loves it because people understand the bigger picture that it is not what they are saved from, but rather what they are saved for.  (Thank you, Tim Mackie, for explaining something so concisely that I have been trying to figure out how to say for months.)

Incredible...