Good morning…
“Sue,” she wrote this week, “your devotional about wide open spaces made me think of sharing with you the works of John O’Donahue. I learned of him through a good friend who was a Methodist pastor and a missionary to Ghana. I shared with him that the school I was teaching at was a Classical Christian School and believed in the quest for truth, beauty, and goodness. He shared a podcast featuring the thoughts of John on The Inner Landscape of Beauty – it was wonderful. John has written many books. One book in particular I have started giving as gifts to friends and family – entitled To Bless the Space Between Us.”
She hoped, “Maybe John will speak to you as he speaks to me and as your written words speak to me each morning!” She shared the podcast.
As I touched on the link and began to listen, I was stopped by one word.
“Beauty isn’t all about just nice loveliness,” John says in his opening statement. “Beauty is about more rounded, substantial becoming. So I think beauty in that senses is about an emerging fullness, a greater sense of grace and elegance, a deeper sense of depth, and also a kind of homecoming for the enriched memory of your unfolding life.”
There is the word I have been drawn to blog about this week: Unfolding. Your unfolding life. The enriched memory of your unfolding life.
“When a situation, narrative, or mystery unfolds, it develops, progresses, or becomes clear step-by-step,” explains the Cambridge Dictionary.
Our lives unfold like this. We develop. We progress. The life that is ours to live becomes clear step-by-step. Over time, we notice an emerging fullness. Gradually, we develop a greater sense of grace and elegance. Eventually, we begin to embody a deeper sense of depth.
A unique seed of beauty is implanted in us. Cooperating with our Creator, you unfold, I unfold, and God blesses the space between us.
So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace (2 Corinthians 4:16, MSG).
“Beauty isn’t all about just loveliness,” says John. “Beauty is about more rounded, substantial becoming.”
…Sue…
P.S. If you are interested in exploring more of John’s thoughts, here is the link to the full podcast: https://onbeing.org/programs/john-odonohue-the-inner-landscape-of-beauty/
