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Ever have it happen to you where you make fun of someone's idiosyncrasies so much that they become your own? "Jumping for joy is great exercise"
~ some fortune cookie fortune The painter, stroke by stroke, meticulously creates a masterpiece, taking great care to catch every detail. Up close, those streaks of color, so carefully placed, are nothing but lines, shades. Even to the artist himself--the perfectionist who worries over the slightest slip of the brush--the painting appears ugly before his eyes, under his hands. Not until he steps back and gathers the whole of his work, seeing the part of himself that has been poured into the painting, does he finally realize how beautiful a work he has created. Similary, the people we are close to are the people whom we most often can't stand. Proximity sometimes causes us to see the worst in people, to pick at the little details that aren't quite what we want them to be. We notice every bit of ugliness in those we care about most. But once we go away for a while, our hearts really do grow fonder and we really can appreciate just how much those people mean to us. And in stepping back and realizing how much those people are a part of our lives, the little bit of ugliness fades, and we find that indeed they are not ugly at all but beautiful and priceless creations that are simply irreplaceable.  aren't children simply beautiful? no wonder Jesus said "let the children come to me." innocence is sacred. |
