A Post from Sara - The Ugly-Beautiful

A few things I've been thinking about the past few days...

One thing I have learned about myself in our trips to various parts of Africa is that I am impacted more than I would have guessed by what I see in the environment around me.  Years ago, we stayed a couple days in a hotel in Nairobi before catching our flight out of the country.  Although the hotel was nice by Kenyan standards (running water and even a pool!), the furnishings were tattered, the walls were cracked and crumbly and the 1950s television appeared to not have worked for years.  And as I looked around that worn hotel room, my attitude deteriorated incredibly quickly so that I was not much fun to be around until we bolted the country.  In hindsight, my lack of gratefulness is embarrassing, but this fight for my attitude is ongoing whenever I leave the comforts of the US.

There is so much natural beauty in parts of Africa--the picturesque printed in National Geographic.  We will see a little of that beauty, but the reality is that the majority of my time will be spent inside our home (right now one large dorm-style room with an attached bathroom where Fiona sleeps in a pack-n-play in the shower).  The homes are practical for the most part and we have commented how life works just fine with only one large room, but there isn’t much to my indoor surroundings that is pleasant to look at.  And it didn’t take me long after our arrival to start feeling like this little home was a depressing place to be for a few weeks, let alone make the choice to live long-term in a place like this.  But thankfully, what God sees here is so different from what I see, and He is so gracious to shift my perspective.  From my Ann Voskamp devotional:

“The impressionist painter Paul Gauguin encapsulated it as, “Le laid peut etre beau”—the ugly can be beautiful.  The ugly-beautiful….In Christian circles, we elevate what we deem beautiful, endeavor to create spheres of pristine beauty, and perhaps rightly so, for “whatever is good, pure, lovely, think on these things.” But I wonder if maybe in the upside-down kingdom of God, what we regard as unlovely is, in Jesus, lovely.  Because somewhere, underneath the grime of this broken world, everything has the radiant fingerprints of God on it.  Seeing the world with Jesus’ eyes, we have the astonishing opportunity to daily love the unlovely into loveliness.”

So today, instead of the rusted lamps with ripped lampshades, I see electricity and am thankful it works reliably.  Instead of a lumpy mattress, I see the fun elephant-print coverlet that reminds me of the rich culture here.  Instead of the ripped sofa chairs, I see missionaries who are willing to live with less for life so others can know hope in Jesus.  That is beautiful and it inspires me to thankfulness to God and His upside-down kingdom.