Let’s define beauty. The cliché “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” is just that. A cliché.
Beauty is mostly determined by comparison, or opinion. Something aesthetically pleasant to our viewpoint is considered beautiful by us. The teen-age son rides with his mother. An erratically-driven lifted diesel-belching truck nearly runs them off the road. Mother is frightened and angry. She sees nothing appealing, while her teen-age son exclaims, “What a beautiful truck!”
Being part of a church known for its well-researched foundations, a love and respect for this order has developed within me. Thus, the intent of my thought process is not to establish any trace of unimportance to the “laws” established by these foundations.
I recently read a very well-written documentary endorsing the foundation of a Christian home. In no way did I disagree with the author. In his prelude he left a full disclaimer expressing that he was not intending to cover the full topic. The book was written with a very clear tutorial on what “our” people (Christendom) could prepare for and what to avoid to build the foundation of a Christian home. It was a Christian home-building formula that would endure through the ages.
As I read it with great interest, I was taken back almost 50 years to when Lucille and I were apprenticing in the preparation for marriage. Sincerely, I wish I had been able to read the book as a young teenager, but it had not yet been published. This book presented beauty. The course of our marriage represented ashes. However, this morning, my 69th birthday, Lucille presented me with a birthday card. “Dear Don, you’re the love of my life. Love Lil.” Friends…in her own handwriting, she chose the words, wilfully! And I believe her.
My friends…there were years that few people would have given our marriage a 10-percent survival rate. My father’s last words written before he passed to his reward were, “Heaven will be lonesome without Donald.” He died with a broken heart. Mom told me later that he had blamed himself. I’m not through my trek of life. I do, however, have the hope that I shall see Dad in heaven!
The perfect formula. The rejoicing, and joy of following God. The marriages “cast in heaven”. They are all good. God bless all who have attained. We have examples in our midst of those who have kept the law from their youth. They live in a “just right” house. Their family and possessions are pretty much “perfect”. There’s enough money to go around. They fit well into the social world. God bless them. Some thrive in spite of this Gospel Affluence. Others, though, are hungry, thirsty, naked and sick.Matthew 25: 35-40 – “For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”
