Living THIS Life of Beauty and Abundance

“One thing I ask from the Lord,

this only do I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord 

all the days of my life,

to gaze on the beauty of the Lord 

and to seek him in his temple.”

— Psalm 27:4 (NIV)

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

— 2 Peter 1:2 (NIV)

Beauty is all around us, and it is there in abundance.

We could be forgiven, however, for not seeing what is patently there, before our eyes, every single moment of our existence. And just because we may at times not see it doesn’t mean it is not there.

Choosing to believe in the beauty, especially when it isn’t apparent, is the idea of faith that fuels joy. Beauty beheld causes this intrinsic happiness; a spiritual sense of abundance of soul. Abundance epitomises and beholds beauty, whilst beauty is grateful for abundance’s depth of rigour of integrity. In underpinning each other, both beauty and abundance multiply each other’s vibrancy.

Abundance, of this view, is not simply a concept of quantity. As a concept it rises up into the realms of the concept of beauty. Abundance is a flourishing. It is all pervasive, all alluring, all encapsulating. It is the theory of muchness eradicating the default state of defeat.

Joy wells up in the soul that experiences abundance and sees beauty. They are certainly there. They are irrefutable states ever-present and mingled within the logic of existence. But we must choose to experience and see them. And that is faith — the most illogical thing to anyone who simply must see and touch what they cannot. Frustration can be their only end!

It takes faith to believe in the generosity of God who showers us with abundance and beauty everywhere. And what is the point to a life that never quite rises to such a height? God calls to us daily to ascend beauty and abundance, making them spiritual possessions by embodying hope.

We must believe in the good, and the power of that good to overcome atrocity. It does us no good otherwise to deny the beauty and abundance, for there is only despair and a vacuous dolour otherwise.

As we choose to dwell in the house of the Lord, we gaze with wonder on His beauty in creation. Everywhere we see Him at work in the natural world we see the marks of nature that bear His workmanship.

Every time we insist on choosing to see God’s goodness in the heartache of the world we become that force for good.