beauty slivers

{via pintrest}

"I want to see beauty. In the ugly, in the sink, in the suffering, in the daily, in all the days before I die, the moments before I sleep." ~Ann Voskamp

it's a habit we have, this obsession with beauty.

we see it in the face of a beautiful woman, flawless skin and weighing just right. 


we see it in the beautiful people. the rich people. the ones who can pay us back for our worshipful admiration.

but did you catch this thing we do?

we worship this beauty

and not the One who made it so.

did we forget that there is more beauty in suffering than in perfection?

that beauty was created when blood flowed down a splintered beam and words were wailed from Father to Son. 

from sinless sin to Sovereign Parenthood? 

and so this thing of beauty changes from world to Heaven's eyes.

and there it is. 

amid the ruin of a run-down home, the history in the painted walls and the still-smooth banisters. 

in the richness of a third-world village, not a penny to be seen but more joy in the dirt-smeared faces there than in any gilded hall.  

{via pintrest}

in the smile on a new father's face. 

that sweet illumination as he takes his flesh and bone into his arms 

and cradles this new infant with more love 

than he ever imagined. 

wife in one arm, child in the other.

this is his glimpse of the face of God.

sunstreams flowing in from window to floor. this humble worship of the world to the One who formed it in His fingers. 

this is the beauty we must see.

 in the cracks and corners and little bits of light in misty emptiness. 

not the reflection must we worship.

but the One in whom 

there is no shadow.

{writing unmasked today}

As You Wish

"Death can not stop true love, it can only delay it for a little while" ~ The Princess Bride

I can quote a lot of lines from a lot of movies. It's just one of my many quirks. My memory seems to latch onto cinematic dialogue. I have no valid explanation.

However, there is one movie that I can quote in its entirety without hardly batting an eye.

The Princess Bride.

For those of you who haven't had the distinct privilege of viewing this 1987 cult classic film...GO WATCH IT. Because, I have to say, it is one of the most incredible movies ever released.

Oddly enough, as my husband pointed out to me tonight, it is the movie that best describes our marriage.

One scene in particular, actually.

The Dread Pirate Roberts has "rescued" Buttercup from the hands of her three unusual kidnappers, and they are on the run together. They stop for a brief rest on a mountaintop. Roberts is being rather gruff and brutal with her, mocking her and treating her sorrow over the death of her one true love, Westley, as something trivial

She finally becomes fed up with him and screams in his face,

"You mocked me once; never do it again. I died that day...and you can die too, for all I care."

With that, she shoves him off the cliff and watches him tumble head over heals down the mountainside. As he falls, Roberts manages to call three simple words back up to her.

"As...you...wish..."

Buttercup suddenly realizes that the man that she has just potentially murdered is not the frightening Dread Pirate Roberts. It is her soulmate, Westley, whom she had thought to be dead. Horrified, she throws herself down the mountain after him.

In so many ways, that is my response with Jon. He becomes gruff or sharp with me in a time of conflict, and I retaliate with a knee-jerk reaction of pushing him away from me...maybe not down a literal cliff, but most certainly in a way that disrespects him.

Suddenly, I realize that I have just injured the man whom I love the most in this world, and I throw myself down after him. I would rather be wounded myself than to live the rest of my days knowing that I had hurt him and had lost him forever.

This is the conundrum that is so prevalent with marriages all across the world. We hurt the ones we love, and then we self-destruct in a last-ditch effort to save the one we have just wounded so brutally. This unending cycle seems intent on destroying our relationships -- not just with our spouses, but also with our friends and family members.

It's at moments like this when I look into my husband's eyes, and I realize something so incredibly powerful.

Jon loves me. He would risk his own safety to protect me and keep me safe.

He would brave the Cliffs of Insanity.

...swim through "eel-infested waters."

...sword-fight with a Spaniard.

...engage in hand-to-hand combat with a man six times his own size.

..."go against a Sicilian when death is on the line!"

...brave the three terrors of the Fire Swamp (lightning sand, flame spurt, and even R.O.U.S's)...

...and finally, he would even undergo the most horrific of tortures and surrender his life

...all for me.

Because he loves me just that much.

So maybe, I need to lay down my pride, take his hand, and brave these terrors of life together. Because, as everyone knows...

"This is true love. Do you think this happens every day?"

तारों का

Yes, the title of this blog post in in Hindi.

It's pronounced "tārōṁ kā." It means "starlight."

Why am I suddenly putting up posts in Hindi?

Two reasons.

1. Hindi is a gorgeous language -- the lilting words of a breathtaking land. I have always dreamed of going to India and becoming totally immersed in its complicated language, rich culture, and heart-stopping scenery.

2. It's a beautiful word, used to convey a remarkable reality.

...can you imagine?

The beauty of standing on the marble dais of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India.

Gazing up at the millions of sparkling lights, bright against the midnight blue of the night sky.

The realization that, no matter where you are on earth, the One who placed each of those stars and knows every single one of them by name...knows me, by name.

Seven continents. Six of them are populated. There are 1,139,964,932 of them in India alone! (2008 census).

And He sees me. He stepped down from Heaven and set aside His royal status.

The hands that held the world and cradled the stars were nailed to two splintered beams of wood. The voice that rejoiced with the angels at the Creation of the world was raised to the sky, wailing in sorrow to His Father..."My God, my God, Why have You forsaken Me?!"

He died to bring me back to life.

So tonight, take a soft blanket and lay in the grass. Look up at the stars, no matter where you are in the world.

Because that soft, twinkling starlight that can make us feel so very small and alone in the world...

...should actually remind us how special we are to Him.