Open My Eyes, Lord

Beauty is essential to my well-being.  I don't mean the physical beauty of a human being, but the beauty of colors and nature.  Recently, I began collecting pictures of amazing natural scenes.  It causes a visceral jolt in my body when I see them.  It almost hurts, but in a good way.  Sort of like taking my breath away for a moment.

I feel better after looking at these photos.  When it's dreary outside, I pull up my own nature photography and rejoice in the bright colors and vivid sunsets and sunrises.  In winter, I look at summer flowers and feel a surge of hope that the dreariness won't last forever.

A hike in the forest or at the ocean refreshes me in more ways than physical.  I sense the wind on my face (and often rain).  I smell the fragrance of fir trees or of salt-tanged air.  I see the glory of ancient trees and crashing waves.  The only problem is, I don't live in these situations on a daily basis.

How can I possibly satisfy this craving for the beautiful in life?  I found the answer.  It lies in looking for the lovely, no matter where you are.  If you are busy looking for the lovely, you won't be concentrating on the ugly.  You will sense the fresh breeze, the softness of raindrops on your face, the scarlet leaf lying on brilliant green grass.

All around me, every day, there are small or large things that I take for granted or don't see because I'm not looking.  I make it a practice to take my camera along every time I go for a walk.  I look constantly for some special thing.  The other day, the sun sparkled on grass, making it look like a field of diamonds.  Wow! 

Let me challenge you to look for the beauty in life. Pray the prayer: "Open my eyes, Lord."  It is amazing how it will change your perspective on life.  No detail is too small to bring pleasure and uplifting.  Enjoy the following pictures and perhaps they can give you some incentive to look around and see the beauty.