You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers, the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.
Isaiah 55:12,13 NIV
Everything we do in our lives should be for the glory of God, but we sometimes forget this.
When the principles of gratitude, simplicity, beauty, and order are brought together, the result is harmony. Maybe it is time to take stock and find out what we can be grateful for. What works and what doesn’t. We need time to dream and ponder, and time to find out how to improve things. Our desire to possess things we cannot afford puts us under emotional and physical pressure. The more we concentrate on what we cannot have, the more depressed we become. And yet we have so much to be grateful for.
When we recognize how much we have, we feel a need to cut off the surplus and find out what is truly necessary. Jesus transformed a mere five loaves of bread and two fish into plenty. Jesus makes abundance out of insufficiency. As long as we have a few loaves and a couple of fish, and know what we can do with them, we have all we need.
Order solves problems. Order is the basis for the new beauty we are looking for. But to get order we have to achieve simplicity. We must clear out the clutter, put things in the right places, and make plans. Pearl Buck said, “Order is the shape on which beauty depends.”
Plans must precede work. We throw out clutter, one room at a time. All that is not beautiful or useful is thrown away. Look for possibilities for transforming your “life house” into a special house as well. Love knows how we should change and renew our lives. But before we begin we must dream – imagine what it could look like. Learn to discern beauty. We often do not see beauty because we do not take notice of it. When we accept simplicity, we learn that less is more. This freedom encourages us to bring order into our lives and to cultivate harmony. We suddenly feel and yearn for more beauty. We discover color and radiance; we see the faces of our family and friends. We see, hear, smell, feel and taste this new awareness. Let God’s glory shine through you.
Breathe © 2013 by the General Conference Women’s Ministries Department