Beauty is in the eye of the "beer-holder", I mean beholder...

Trouble shooters are easy to find. It doesn't take much skill to point out the symptoms and sources of trouble. I wouldn't have to even rehearse to spout off a solid minute of ills that plague my immediate surroundings, shucks, if I took a deep breath I might be able to do it without inhaling, like a Jr. Higher burping the ABC's.

But beauty shooters are altogether rare. I'm finding myself more and more drawn to people that have the same opportunity to bemoan life's trouble but instead choose to look for and champion beauty. There is beauty in tragedy if you squint enough to see it through the fog. You can make out lines of love and shapes of goodness. Sometimes, the ugly only makes the beauty more beautiful. The darker the night the more resplendent the candlepower of one simple wick.

It seems that Christmas can be a time to troubleshoot the daylights out of life. I hope to spend my day thinking upon Philippians 4:8 - "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things." This verse covers the philosophy of beauty shooting, which is as simple as choosing what things to think about. When you "make up your mind" to think about "such things" as truth, nobility, righteousness, purity, loveliness, admiration, excellence and praise, you wouldn't believe what kind of life unfolds that was there all along.

Titus 1:15 puts it this way, "To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted." It's amazing how powerful our perspectives are. I hope I can lock into beauty today and "think about such things". I have a feeling the quality of my day depends on it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.