Or I could pass on vanity and wear shoes that actually are comfortable but where's the fun in that? I enjoy wearing heels. Ok, I don't enjoy wearing heels. I enjoy the look of heels.
The moment I walk in the door and kick off my heels (aside from doing so in church, that's classy right?) is the best feeling ever! My sausages, er, my toes, just shout a big "Thank You" to me as they settle into the soft carpet. They continue to holler at me periodically for the remainder of the day. They yell things like, "hey crazy lady, thanks a lot for squishing us you big meanie. Next time we're gonna trip you."
Heels. They can be so moody.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."
So this scripture is really cool. He has made everything beautiful in it's time. That tells me that not everything starts out beautiful. That trial that you may be going through is not beautiful. Yet. That negative diagnosis is not beautiful. Yet. The marriage that's in turmoil is not beautiful. Yet. The financial crises that keeps you awake at night is not beautiful. Yet.
"That's common sense," you say. "Duh Jen", you say. "We're gonna trip you," you say. Oh wait, that's the heels.
Of course, OF COURSE those things are not beautiful. OF COURSE, trials are absolutely awful. But I have to believe that God created the word "Beautiful." And I have to believe it does not look like we think it looks like. I have to believe that "beautiful" does not simply refer to an attractive person, or a lovely flower, or a wonderfully composed song. I have to believe that God see's beauty in a far greater arena. Because He has made EVERYTHING beautiful in it's time. EVERYTHING. Everything. So yes, that traumatic event you endured, it has beauty. The valley that you have found yourself walking in for far longer than you ever dreamed you would, it has beauty. The problem, the trial, the heartache, the damage...beautiful. How? How.
It's the second part of the verse: He has put eternity in our hearts. Everything we face has the potential to draw us closer to the Lord, if we allow it to. And as we draw closer to the Lord, that eternity that has been put in our hearts, grows stronger and stronger. Until all we can focus on is the glory of the Lord! Until all we can think about, is gazing on His beautiful face. Because if our hearts are drawn towards Heaven, and if our hearts are always aware that we are simply passing through, then our situation has no choice but to appear beautiful. Because it's getting us one step closer to Him.
And lastly the verse says, "no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." We can't fathom the big picture. We can't comprehend the reason behind some of the stuff we've had to endure, or are currently enduring. But how beautiful must it be to the heart of the Father, when in the natural, we can hardly muster another prayer...and yet we do. And yet we walk. And yet we run. And yet we endure. How beautiful must that be to the Lord.
So if everything is made beautiful in His time, then we trust in just exactly that. We trust in His time. It may not be a beautiful season you are walking through at the moment; in fact it may be downright ugly. But you can trust that at some point in your journey, it will be beautiful to the Lord. Otherwise the Bible would not say that. So I have to believe it.
You know the old saying that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder?" Oh Jesus, as you look on us, may we shine your beauty. May we walk through adversity, with our heads held high, knowing that you have placed eternity in our hearts. And for that reason, among many many other reasons, we look to your beautiful face and we thank you that your definition of beautiful is not ours. In Jesus name, Amen.
PS. My toes are still angry. If you see me in flats for the rest of my life, you'll know they won.
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