Beauty is God's Handwriting

"Never lose an opportunity for seeing anything that is beautiful; For beauty is God's handwriting--a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, And thank God for it as a cup of His blessing."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Beauty On A Shadowed Background

"Sometimes beauty is brighter on a shadowed background.

This isn't a new idea. But it struck me that sometimes God shows me things that I would normally overlook by first making me aware of the troublesome or difficult aspects of my life.

I can understand rest only after an exhausting week.

I can see goodness in my daughter's heart after she's told me yet another story about the mean boys at school.

I recognize safety and rescue after I hear a horrible story on the news."

- An excerpt from Beach Combing by Sarah Markley on her blog The Best Days of My Life

Not Ugly

"And when it comes to things that are beautiful in any obvious way, she still refuses to call them ugly. To her, ugly is just a word people use for things where the beautiful chooses to remain hidden."

- A quote from Beautiful by Billy guest-posting on Hey Look, A Chicken! (Fabulous post. Be sure to go read the rest.)

True Beauty

"There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us. 'Tis good to give a stranger a meal, or a night's lodging. 'Tis better to be hospitable to his good meaning and thought, and give courage to a companion. We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson