Wednesday
May 9
Since we reconnect with the youth on Sunday, we have this week to relax and just live in Florence. One of my favorite things is to go into our main room and throw open the shutters. You can hear the birds in the courtyards and the spaces between buildings. During the day the temperature is warm, but not unbearable like it is in August. The sun pours into the main room, and lights up everything it touches.
There
are high ceilings, and all the surfaces are hard and smooth which
causes the sound of birds chirping to echo throughout the apartment.
When I glance up and out the window, I see the giant dome of the
Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore that dominates the frame of the
window. Birds are seen flying between the massive circular windows
that adorn the sides.
I sit here gazing at the immense structure. Some of the marble tiles that once covered the brick structure have been removed or fallen off, exposing the core of its beauty. Something that is so beautiful is actually boring and ugly beneath the skin. Isn't that something true about all of us? We try so hard to be beautiful on the outside, and all the while we don't consider what is happening on the inside. Our soul is where true beauty is... despite what Jim Carrey said in Liar liar. If we are boring and ugly beneath our skin, but beautiful on the outside, then we might as well be an empty shell. We strut around putting ourselves on display in hope that other people might look at us think that we amount to something based on what we look like, but what do we amount to? Is what we look like really where we get our sense of self worth?
Lets
go back to what God said. "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not
look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I
have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on
the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." May we
all get a better sense of where our real value lies. Think a little
less about the way the world sees at us and a little more about the
way God sees us.
I read a story online a while ago about a boy that had taken lessons playing the violin all his life. He became so good, that he became famous. People had heard of his talent all over the world. His concerts always sold out and were difficult to find tickets for. During one of his concerts he began to play and after each song he performed, the crowd stood, clapped, and cheered. Despite the cheering and clapping the boy began to become annoyed and almost disgusted by the cheers. The concert went on. When he had finished his last song, crowd going crazy, he turned to them and looked up in highest balcony where an old man sat in the dark. The old man showed no emotion, but then stood to his feet and looked down to the boy. He smiled and applauded the boy's performance. They boys frustration turned to joy and he bowed to the old man and to the crowd that adored him. The old man in the crowd was the boy's teacher. Throughout the whole concert the boy knew that his performance, though applauded by those who did not now what it took to be a master violinist, was a failure if it was not approved by the master. If we are not approved by the God in heaven because of our outward appearance, then why are we so determined to be defined by it? We seek the approval of those who don't know what it takes to be a master. We seek the approval of those who don't know what it is to lead a significant life.
Since we reconnect with the youth on Sunday, we have this week to relax and just live in Florence. One of my favorite things is to go into our main room and throw open the shutters. You can hear the birds in the courtyards and the spaces between buildings. During the day the temperature is warm, but not unbearable like it is in August. The sun pours into the main room, and lights up everything it touches.
I sit here gazing at the immense structure. Some of the marble tiles that once covered the brick structure have been removed or fallen off, exposing the core of its beauty. Something that is so beautiful is actually boring and ugly beneath the skin. Isn't that something true about all of us? We try so hard to be beautiful on the outside, and all the while we don't consider what is happening on the inside. Our soul is where true beauty is... despite what Jim Carrey said in Liar liar. If we are boring and ugly beneath our skin, but beautiful on the outside, then we might as well be an empty shell. We strut around putting ourselves on display in hope that other people might look at us think that we amount to something based on what we look like, but what do we amount to? Is what we look like really where we get our sense of self worth?
I read a story online a while ago about a boy that had taken lessons playing the violin all his life. He became so good, that he became famous. People had heard of his talent all over the world. His concerts always sold out and were difficult to find tickets for. During one of his concerts he began to play and after each song he performed, the crowd stood, clapped, and cheered. Despite the cheering and clapping the boy began to become annoyed and almost disgusted by the cheers. The concert went on. When he had finished his last song, crowd going crazy, he turned to them and looked up in highest balcony where an old man sat in the dark. The old man showed no emotion, but then stood to his feet and looked down to the boy. He smiled and applauded the boy's performance. They boys frustration turned to joy and he bowed to the old man and to the crowd that adored him. The old man in the crowd was the boy's teacher. Throughout the whole concert the boy knew that his performance, though applauded by those who did not now what it took to be a master violinist, was a failure if it was not approved by the master. If we are not approved by the God in heaven because of our outward appearance, then why are we so determined to be defined by it? We seek the approval of those who don't know what it takes to be a master. We seek the approval of those who don't know what it is to lead a significant life.
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