A God presenting Himself.

Days when the sky falls.

The earth has music for those who listen.

| WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

 

The snowflakes that cling to one another the whole way to the cold, lifeless ground. I live for that these days. This is winter & we are in Ohio & yet, somehow shock is common, along with the overused & all-too-familiar huffs & puffs. I catch myself grimacing, as one sees an image that brush burns the soul. I catch myself apologetic towards the God who creates day in & day out, placing his beauty in each breath. It’s the awkward moment your family says something in front of a friend that is an opinion to one & a painful battle to the other. Suddenly words seem tangled in balls of yarn, the end of the string nowhere to be seen to pull the neatly compiled thread. All at once the silence is as awkward as the words meant for comfort that just aren’t finding their place.

 

I find joy in the snowstorms, though there is no chance I will see my school scrolling across the television. Though there is no bus to pick me up & drive me to my destination when the roads are an unplowed frenzy. I am filled by the white pages that blanket north, south, east, & west, leaving your imagination (& perhaps memory, on a good day) to make out what lies before you. A silent covering. A peaceful blanket. A God presenting Himself.

 

& the summer sunsets that beat the fourth of July.

The blaze of the sun bowing down before its Maker. Fireflies awakening to the crickets chirp, arising to play with the chasing children, whose bedtimes come in time with a sun who waits up for them. A day greenest of greens, when watermelon juice is sure to leave its drippings on the porch & the ants are sure to mark the trail. When goggles are as common as glasses & vulnerable skin is kissed by a passionate sun. A wholesome laughter. A playful breeze. A God presenting Himself.

 

The sky is like a woman 12 weeks out of the year. An emotional wreck.

We lay on our backs & gaze at the sky & it is beautiful as it’s completely coming undone. The hues of blue are not pretending to be the trees so that it can be beautiful. No, the sky is itself, allowing truth to permeate all it is.

 

The sky is.

 

Everything God gives it for the moment, every element He breathes into this very day. The sky is vulnerable. Bare. Honest. This is the day that the Lord has made. This is it. Unmasked. Undistorted. & we come undone at its beauty.

 

& I fear for her,

That little girl in the pink shirt who’s latest love is floor heaters. I am captured by her every word, imperfectly pouring out in heaven’s very own voice, seemingly unaware of what the warm gusts under her feet are doing to her hair. She is fully everything God has given her to be in this day. & she is beautiful. Breathtaking.

 

 

I see ads in magazines telling girls what is trending & what’s hot & what’s not & what to wear from head to toe in order to be beautiful. I find an ad telling girls to wear extra padding on their breasts so they can be noticed.
 

 

This is attention? This is beautiful?

 

But it’s not.

& the one thing little Miley said before she turned her ear towards who people said she needed to be sits within me like an epiphany.

 

Beauty is the enemy. We try to conquer not feeling beautiful all our lives.

It’s a battle that can’t be won. There is no definition of beauty. The only way

to achieve beauty is to feel it from inside without breaking it down into

individual physical attributes.

MILEY CYRUS

 

It was just as hard for me to quote Miley as it probably was for you to accept, as we are a particular kind of people where black is black & white is white & you either love it all or want nothing to do with it. But this is real. The redefining of beauty isn’t a transformation as much as an acceptance.

 

This is the story of accepting yourself. Of being what you feel & not holding back. This is vulnerable. This is bold.

 

You are enough to be noticed.

You are enough to be beautiful.

 

This is the moment when the cheesy words suddenly hold the most truth. Just as the sky simply spreads out its arms to display the majesty of its Creator, you have the same ability. You have within you enough for today & tomorrow you will have enough for tomorrow.

 

You are lovely, exquisite, & rare. & despite how you feel, you have been equipped with beauty.

 

Breathe.