Finding Beauty in the Ordinary

I think maybe I'm too practical. I'm always looking for the best use of something -- whether it's deciding which pocket gadget to buy for camping trips, depending on the number of tools it has and the likelihood of using each one; or just wanting to get the most out of my days and dollars. But last weekend my friend Sheila
Graham led a group devotional about finding beauty in the ordinary, which is what she says art does. Since I'm not artistic in the sense of painting-drawing-sculpting, I was tempted to tune out -- but then she talked about how Jesus found the beauty in everyone. Good point, Sheila. So let's look at a few cases:

• Jesus brought children to sit with him and be blessed, although his disciples thought they were just getting in the way (Luke 18:15-17).
• Jesus healed a leprous man by touching him (ewww!) and said yes to a Roman soldier's request for healing his servant -- don't forget, the Romans were the oppressive invaders who taxed the Jews half to death; and cast demons out of possessed people (Matthew 8). 
• Jesus healed a paralyzed man, and called a nasty-evil-bad tax collector, Matthew Levi, to be a disciple -- that must have caused a stir with the other disciples, who had to pay those taxes, maybe even to Matthew! (Matthew 9).

We could list many more of these. So was Jesus just more soft-hearted than others of his time? I believe the answer is that Jesus was (and still is) the perfect image of who God our Father is; so his outpouring of grace to ordinary people, many of whom were rejected by those around them, was simply a showing of the wonderful love of God for all his kids. He made humanity "very good" at creation, and I don't believe he's changed his mind, in spite of all our poor behavior for all these years. Could it be the Father still sees the beauty in his creation, even if we don't?

What if you and I made a deliberate effort to find the beauty in every other person? What if we looked for the grace of God in a person that society wouldn't accept as one of their beautiful ones? What if we extended grace in spite of someone's poor behavior, not just their appearance? Well, Jesus set the standard for that too, in his own actions, and if you read Matt. 5:43-48, he taught that we should do as he did. "I can't do that!" you might protest. But Jesus did, and he can do it in you, if you let him. Give it a shot today, and see what happens. And come back and let me know, okay?