To attract us to Him,
Nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.
Ugly.
It can be hard to look at. Uncomfortable to deal with. We live in a culture that thrives and profits on the vanity of things. We want cars that sparkle, homes that amaze, and bodies that radiate beauty. We find comfort in being surrounded by a safe, clean, attractive environment.
But when there is suddenly an intrusion of the ugly, we find a mop and clean it up. Litter on the highway. Muddy, slushy snow. Unpainted and vandalized housing projects. A dead animal carcass. Dilapidated homes of third world poverty.
The American tendency is to fix these things. Our initial reaction is motivated with pure heart, the thought being, "How can I help this situation?" And yet, perhaps the ugliness is merely a distraction. What if the trash, the mud and filth, the chaos, the hideous and unsightly are one of Satan’s means of sidetracking us?
What if we controlled our immediate convulsive reaction to the ugly and allowed our Spirit to open our eyes? What would we see? Perhaps we would realize a more wholistic picture.
Maybe we would see the true needs of people, their pride, their contentment, their yearnings… their humanity. Maybe we would notice the harmony of God’s creation, knowing that it really is good – all of it, even the ugly parts. Maybe we would see opportunity – not to clean it up, but to better understand.
Challenge #19: Find something ugly. It doesn’t have to be horrific. Perhaps it is something mundane. It can be a picture, or an actual place. Trash in a dumpster or landfill. The sludge on the edge of a pond. An abandonned, gutted-out building. Find it, ponder it... then find the beauty in it. Describe what you see.
For some interesting examples of the beauty found in ugliness, check out: www.flickr.com/groups/prettyugly/pool
Remember that Jesus Christ Himself was not born into the tall, handsome rendering that we allow in art and film. He was unattractive. Maybe plain-looking, or possibly hideous in appearance (see Isaiah 52 and 53). And yet, to have the Messiah come to earth in a humble human body was the essence of His life and teaching. As Jesus Himself said:
"Blessed are the meek…"
Tuesday’s Challenge #20: TOUCH
Forgive me as I write this on my iPod... There is bound to be a few typos. So my ugly for the day (atleast so far) is something I see at least twice five days a week... No including my own :) it is poop. We all do it so it is okay to giggle in private. But seriously, poop is nasty, smelly, and ugly. But it serves a great purpose doesn't it? I mean think about it... Poop is how our body gets rid of the nasty built up toxic stuff we pour into our body. Think about those all nighters you have pulled. The candy, soda, coffee, and junk you munch on all night long to keep going and ignore and fight your body's need for rest. No think about all that is you didn't poop. Where does it go? What would you do. You can only get so much of the muck out through urin and sweating. You would die... And that's not a figurative statement. You would litterally poison your body.
ReplyDeletePoop is a beautifully ugly thing! I love body systems so you may hear more on that. And for those of you who don't know I keep kids every day, 2 of them... That is why I see so much poop!
I have always found the "rainbow" in an oil stain in a puddle beautiful and cool. You know, in the parking lot when it rains and there is a film of oil over a small puddle and it makes a rainbow? Ever since I was a kid...
ReplyDeletei like that one
ReplyDeletedirt is mine althought dirt is nasty muddy slimy and all kinds of bugs live in it it helps to grow grass beautiful flowers trees and many other things if you think about it we need it to live because dirt helps trees grow and without trees no oxygen would be produced
While I was doing "climb" today, I saw a dead deer. It was pretty gross, mangled by some predator or scavenger and had clearly been dead for a while. It stunk and was infested with insects and larvae. A stinking, half-eaten, half-rotted deer is definitely ugly.
ReplyDeleteBut at the same time, there was a weird beauty about it. Even through death and decay, the deer was providing food for scavenging animals, bacteria, fungi, and for ants and other insects. The breakdown of the body leached nutrients into the earth, where they will encourage lush plant growth. This is a beautiful use of death's ugly reality.
i always looked at this one picture from camp of lauren and i. it just isn't a good picture at first glance. but if you look at it for a coupe seconds..you realize how much joy we have when we are together or at camp. it's cool. :)
ReplyDeleteezzie. :) (wrong grammar.)
ReplyDeletemine was just today overall. the rain and the gray and the overall dreariness... yet it was calm and peaceful and beautiful.
Dylon
ReplyDeleteWhen I was taking out the trash I realize that everything in there had a different story.Where it was made, how it was shipped, and I realized that it was made in its own unique way. It might smell and be a pain to take out but the ttrash we have has effort written all over it.
Mr. Polutta, i know what youre talking about... and i could explain it with physics if need be 'cause i just learned and took a test about it.
ReplyDeleteBut one thing i can see beauty in is dirt. Yes, dirt. It even has its own adjective that means messy and not clean- dirty. Most people don't like to get dirty (in the physical sense), but for me, somethings wrong if i don't have dirt on my pants at the end of a game. I wasn't working hard enough, i didn't push things as hard as i could if im not dirty at all. From a metaphorical sense, being dirty is not a good thing for our spirituality. But from a physical standpoint, it is one way that we come into the most contact with the earth God created. Dirt provides soil for beautiful plants! And to me, there's nothing better than a good slide into second base, dust flying up everywhere, and having to shake the dirt off your belt and pants when you get up. Dirt is beautiful.
so today was a real challenge for me.
ReplyDeletei woke up and got ready and i was wearing capris and flip flops and i was hoping for a sunny day just like saturday.
then i got into my car and was on my way to school when the snow started coming down. I was so angry. i got out of my car freezing cold and decided that today was the ugliest day ever. then i got into first block and read this blog but i was bitter at the time because of the nasty weather. i did not decide to be happy and i decided that anything other than sunny days were ugly.
It wasn't until this afternoon when i was walking with my little neighbor and we were telling fun stories about all of our fun times in the snow and rain that i decided that maybe today's ugliness could have been considered pretty.
so there is my long drawn out story about how snow in spring is a cool unusual somewhat 'pretty' ugly thing.
feet. feet are the ugliest things ever. this is why doing the footnote challenge was hard for me. i even brought shoes with me just incase.
ReplyDeletefeet may be cut, wrinkly, have calluses all over them, but they have a purpose, and without them, we would be trapped. we wouldn't be able to move. we would be stuck in one place for our whole lives. some toes are fat or longer than others, they may be clumsy or sweaty but they are important. feet have battle scars that tell stories and toenails painted purple as a sign of that person's personality.
the looks of feet may not make them our definition of beautiful, but their diversity, stories, and purpose make them beautiful.
This is kinda different, but it's what I saw...
ReplyDeleteSo, today at work I was in the window. And we were holding on chicken sandwiches for THREE minutes. Not a big deal, in my opinion. Well, this lady comes through and I explain the situation and ask her if she'd like to wait or would she like something else. She got a big attitude about it. And I just kept my cool and in the end we refunded her money.
This happens from time to time. These experiences have taught me to be patient. Especially when it comes to food. You never know what's happened in a restaurant. Someone may have cut their finger, and needed others to help, thus making it difficult for others to get your food to you. You never know why.
So, anyways, I saw beauty in the fact that I have learned to be patient. I know, weird.
(leslie)
ReplyDeleteso this was not extremely easy for me. i seem to think everything has some beauty in it. a flaw i guess :) so i have spent two days trying to find something that i think is ugly. it's just that i almost automatically find ugly things to have a pattern and really not be so bad. i've decided to go with an action. so i was driving and we were sitting at a red light and apparently i did not move fast enough for the person behind me. so they honked. that is ugly. but you know sometimes i am in a huge hurry and i just want to ram into people b/c they wont get the heck out of my way...now how are they to know that i am in a hurry? maybe if they did know they would move over. that's ugliness in me. so the beauty here is in understanding. it is in loving anyways. he honked at me. so i moved and i was frustrated. i even said something (that he couldn't hear) i think. but we all have a choice: be ugly right back OR try to understand that we are only human and we all have our moments...so if we could just cut people a little slack we might all be more beautiful.
so i went looking in some old pictures on my phone. and i found some pictures i had taken in atlanta of some graffitit. and theres this one spot that is covered in cuss words and gang signs, and i remember being in awe of that place. how could so many people paint so many horrible things? and just be ok with it? i walked up to the wall and in the midst of all those tags and curse words were three words in black spray paint, painted over the f word. the words were god is love. i cried pretty heavily after i read that. it gives me hope, bc so many were putting evil things. but at least one person had tried to say something great and true.
ReplyDeleteWhile pondering the oxymoronic term "Pretty Ugly", I am taken, in thought, back to the cross where Jesus suffered through a cruel, ugly death. He carried out this unselfish act to cleanse a beautiful world of the filthy and putrid sin Satan had made to appear attractive.
ReplyDeleteAfter three days, the Messiah emerged from an ugly place, a grave, in triumphant splendor. Beautiful love has conquered ugly death!
You know, to me one of the most disgusting things ever is the kitchen trashcan. You think, how could you ever find anything beautiful about trash. Well i thought about this...in that trashan there's left over food, wrappers and random other items. The food inside that trashcan is what is helping us grow and become bigger and stronger. You see a banana peel and you think ew. But then you think well that was a banana once, a good nutritious fruit that helps us grow.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I thought childbirth was gross but as I grew older and had my own children, it is beautiful and so amazing. Also, storms are sometimes ugly, scary and do so much damage, but I love a good thunder storm (just not every day). The storm refreshes everything, even the bad storms with tornadoes and floods are said to be good for the earth and atmosphere.
ReplyDeletethis kind of applies, maybe...i went to atlanta bread today with my sister and as we were standing in line i was complaining about my bad day and in my mind really harshly and rudely judging the gil in font of me for some reason. she had purple fried hair, some piercings, her bra was hanging out and she was wearing some weird colored cargo pants and looked like she hadn't showered in a few days. well while we were talking and i was just complaining a lot, she just turns around out of the blue and says "it's a beautiful day, your with good company and your in atlanta bread. you can't have a bad day now. cheer up" then she just smiled and turned around...it just reminded me that you can't judge people. because i had looked at her, judged her and decided that she was ugly and she completely changed my mind. she didn't even know me and she was really kind to me. i saw the beauty in her...it may not of been an actual thing or apply to this, but it was the first thing i thought of when i read this.
ReplyDeleteI understand what Morgan is saying
ReplyDeleteBlake
I find beauty in many things that are not too beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI find it ugly when there is are thunderstorms
Faith