I am sure you have noticed by now that I simply adore butterflies. I am enthralled by them. I love watching how they dance happily from one colourful flower to the next. Butterflies are beauty-finders. You will never see a butterfly sitting on a whithered flower, and they always pick the most fragrant of roses to visit. Wherever they go they leave a trail of beauty behind. They always remind me of my sister. She too, is a beauty-finder. She knows just how to pick the most beautiful piece of cloth or the prettiest dress in a shop, she'll even find the most delightful dishrag hiding amongst all the other ordinary ones! Just being near her makes me feel a part of the beauty around her and inside her.
But in life we also have poison-finders. Poison-finders are oblivious to the beauty that surrounds them, they are only interested in finding their poison. Just look at the spider. It visits the same flower as the delightful butterfly, but instead of beauty it finds the ingredients to make a deadly poison. Some people are like spiders, they will pay little attention to the beauty that surrounds them, in fact they don't notice it at all. Their focus is entirely on finding everything that is wrong, imperfect or ugly. They look for it with a trained eye and they will unerringly find the tiniest fault. They are poison-finders, but even worse, they are poison-spreaders. They delight in sharing this poison with others. Poison-spreaders are energy-sappers, they taint everything with their negativity. An encounter with a poison-finder can leave you feeling totally drained.
Beauty-finders will always share their beauty with others, they just can't help it. Beauty-finders make the world around them beautiful too, even if it is just with the smile they leave behind in your heart. Even in the bleakest of circumstances beauty-finders decorate life with fragments of beauty.
The choice is ours. What we find in life is what we look for. If you look for the beauty in everything you will be sure to find it, but if you are searching for the less beautiful, I can guarantee you that you will find that too. Today, let us be beauty gatherers, let us fill our stores with those things that delight the soul, so that we can become beauty givers in a world that is crying out for it.
If you flutter by here, I wish you beauty. Please feel free to comment and share your moments of beauty with us. Just click on the words "no comments" or "1 comment " and follow the link. I would love to hear from you.
Yes, it really is a mindset. It is the typical question of how do I see the glass, half full or half empty? Our lives would be so much happier if we could look for the lovely things life is offering us, keeping our eyes on the Lord. Have Happiness,
ReplyDeleteSusan
Thank you for your post, Susan. Yes, it is so much easier to see the beauty in life when we keep our focus on the Lord.
DeleteCharri
It is so beautiful what you have written,Charri, my own sister is also a beauty finder!!!
ReplyDeleteI also have a very good friend, I've known her for more than 30 years, Rentia, she has left the big city on her husband's retirement a couple of years ago. I miss her but at least we phone one another every weekend and just to hear her voice puts joy into my life. I can say about Rentia that she is always excited to tell me about beautiful things and people that passed through her week. She is also a true beauty finder!
I think it is a great blessing in life to notice beauty in every person who crosses your life on a daily basis. When I'm having coffee in a coffee shop by myself , I love watching people walk past and many times I will get a new idea of how to wear an old dress of mine for instance. On such occasions I have noticed a pretty dress, but I don't look for "do her shoes match the outfit"!
We can certainly do without the 'poison finders', they deplete you of energy and one of life's lessons has been: no matter how much you try to be graceful and nice to such a person ,they will never change and the best medicine is to avoid them as much as possible! There is such a verse in the Bible.
I also agree with Susan, to try and see the glass half full?
Hi, B, thank you for your wonderful post, I really appreciate you taking the time to reply. It is wonderful that you have a friend like Rentia, friends like her are a blessing in ones life.
DeleteHave a wonderful week filled with beauty.
Love,
Charri xxx
It is so true that there are so many poison-finders in this world and it all comes down to one thing and that is jealousy. It seems as if people don't want other people to succeed or to look better than them. If we could all see something good in someone else, wouldn't life be so much more peaceful?
ReplyDeleteYes, jealousy plays a big role, but it is usually a disguise those with self-image issues use to hide behind. Life is indeed beautiful when we search for beauty in everything and everyone around us. Thank you for your post,Love,
DeleteCharri xxx