beauty

In my walking in the last few days, I had a chance to catch up on my "podcast listening." One of my favorites is "this american life" it is a free podcast from NPR (which is apparently running a two week special on working in the Middle East- focusing on Cairo and Dubai...you might want to check it out.) Anyway, I was listening as this guy was telling his story about having a medical condition that caused him to see things "as they are, with no emotion or distraction" and the thought that kept coming to him was "that is beautiful" over and over and over.
I thought about how many times I stop and take in something of beauty in my day, week and month- and how much beauty is actually around me. I thought about how God's grace is seen in my life- His protection in the crazy driving (and walking around the crazy driving!) and memorizing vocabulary, chatting with people, opportunities to go to KG-1 and practice with the kids there, the way the kids today were "belly dancing" and making me laugh- or the kid whose name is betro because they can't pronounce their "p" :) or the love that is given in a heartfelt hug of a 4 year old. Or in the rain that we got last night, the warmth of the heater on a really cold night, the feeling of carbonation bubbling in my mouth as I drink my pepsi- the looks I get from people who expect me to speak english and then I burst out in Arabic :) the music of Jennifer Knapp and Rich Mullins piping through my ipod as I walk this city- friends to laugh with, dreams for the future- all of these and so much more joining in the symphony of life to scream "this is beautiful!"
I heard this line today on a tv show "some hearts are so beautifully fragile like crystal- they are beautiful even when they shatter" -- I thought that is so true of this world. It is beautiful, even in it's broken and cursed state- it is beautiful even when it shatters.