monica made this for her brother-in-law. it is his birthday next week. the front part is a cd-case and it opens up. monica is amazing with these things! she takes pieces of something and always, time and time again, she creates a thing of beauty. sometimes there is beauty so close to us that it blinds us, and we cannot see it. we are so wrapped up in the noise and ugliness of everyday life, that we just stop looking. i think sometimes we also say that we don't have time to stop and look. i know that i find it very hard to just pause. everything is done in a whirlwind. have to multitask. used to pride myself on the fact that i was able to multitask. now i am thinking i might have missed alot of beauty while always being so busy. i listen to people and their views of kids, dogs, politics, the homeless, the street kids, and i listen to them complain about everything. then i listen to myself agreeing with alot of them, and only every so often trying to squeeze something positive in. have you ever noticed how people love the negative? how they look at you as if you are crazy if you are positive when they are negative? i think maybe i just join the club sometimes. i also think of people i might have hurt by not commenting on something beautiful they were wearing, if they had new hair, shoes or just anything that was beautiful. i should really tune myself in to beauty. whichever channel it is, i should pre-tune myself, and never change it! God created a perfect world. satan tried to detroy it with his lies. Jesus came to give us the opportunity to not perish, but have eternal life one day, and while we are still here, enjoy the world we live in. to try and find the beauty in the every day things. a sunset, a hug, a smile, a young man giving up his seat for an older man, a teenage granddaughter sitting with her granny instead of "mixing it", a father fishing with his son, a mother cooking with love for her family after a whole day at work herself, or carting all the kids to school, activities etc, or just a breath of fresh air. things of beauty are all around us. we just need to stand back, and look at them - not past them or through them. find some beauty this week.............
Comments
Debby
I'm not religious although I was raised Catholic, but I do believe in good and bad, good and bad people and that we sometimes have it hard to see beauty.
One of my goals in life is to try to let people see that there ARE so many good things in life.
If they for example complain about the weather, I try to let them see how fortunate we are that we are not living in Pakistan . No the sun is not shining, but our houses don't dissappear because of the water, our children don't die,... People look strange at me first and after that they keep their mouths shut or say : " yes, you're right..."
Sometimes life is not easy, but living is much better if you live it positive...
Your friend made indeed a great card. Did she make a book of it ( when I see the rings on the left ..) ? The CD case is really nice embellished : nice paper/ stamps she used, nice colors and composition,...
you may congratulate her on her work :)
I bet it will make her smile when you give her these messages...
greetings from Belgium
Inge
Here's a blog I think you might enjoy:
http://kindovermatter.blogspot.com/
and this one too:
http://www.brenebrown.com/
You are so sweet to post your friend's card---thanks, cuz I am glad I got to see it....deanna