It is the deepest and most wonderful of all mythic truths, unveiled in the original Beauty and the Beast, written by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. The Transformation. A creature that no one could bear to look upon is transformed into a handsome prince. That which was dark and ugly is now glorious and good. Is it not the most beautiful outcome of any story to be written? Perhaps that is because it is the deepest yearning of the human heart.
John Eldridge
Lately I've been pondering Ann Voskamp's thoughts on the Ugly Beautiful. When I saw this quote by John Eldridge today, my mind shot back to the way Ann describes the concept of the beast turning into a prince, the ugly duckling becoming a graceful swan. Isn't that what we all long for? Isn't that what we become in Christ?
I wonder how aware I am of the way God transforms what we might consider ugly into something we would call beautiful. And aren't we back to perception once again, with one's unseemly being another's beautiful?
My perceptions of beauty have been changing slowly over the past month. It is no coincidence that this metamorphosis has bloomed as I have counted gifts and given thanks in everything, for everything. As my journal fills, so does my soul with gratitude for every breath and everything my life holds between those breaths.
Only He, by His grace, can make beautiful the ugly of our fallen world.
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us
(Gungor)
