Beauty, part III: When beauty goes bad

November 1, 2008

The past week has been a rollercoaster; good news, bad news, joy, frustration--all rolled into the past 7 days. It's been a bit of a rude awakening. My life is messier than I'd like to let on and or even admit to myself for that matter. The beauty from the Spirit that should be shining through is dampened by my humanity and selfishness.

What causes beauty to go bad? There are daisies that are planted outside of the building that my lab is in. A month ago they were absolutely beautiful, full of bright white and yellow blooms rising up to meet the sunlight. Over the past several weeks they've been deteriorating. Many of the blooms have fallen off their stems, and those that have survived are beginning to wilt and will be taken hostage by the frost soon. Death is what it all comes down to. Nothing on this earth can last forever. All that's living (by worldly standards) is destined for decay and ultimately death. We can even see it in ourselves--my eyesight hasn't been 20/20 since I was 9.

The thing is... as much as pop culture tells us death is natural, it's not. Things were perfect and beautiful until the fall... and then it all went downhill.

By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.
Genesis 3: 19

Man's sin caused a rift between us and God. We sin. We choose our own way over God's. We drive a wedge between us; tell Him that we can do it on our own. By doing this, our connection with God is broken... our connection to life is broken. No life=death. There's no beauty found in sin and death. It's the complete opposite of God and the life he has.

So what causes beauty to go bad?

But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:14-15

And how can it be restored?

For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans 8: 13-14

Coming soon... part IV

Beauty, part II: Life

October 29, 2008 (part 2 of 4... I think)

The other night I was with the Yellow House ladies carving pumpkins and watching Halloween movies. Hocus Pocus was playing the background as we sat chatting away, covered in pumpkin guts. At one point, I was struck by a connection between the movie and beauty. I know it sounds strange, but just stay with me; it's not as much of a stretch as it seems.

The basic premise of the movie is that 300+ yr old witches are brought back to life and then must capture the souls of children, dementor-style, in order to stay alive and become young and beautiful again. For them, life and beauty go hand in hand. Death results in deterioration. That's the case for us too. In many cases beauty is directly correlated to life. Nature is one of the most obvious. The spring is one of my favorite seasons (currently in a tight race with fall for first.) Trees begin budding, flowers bloom, and the world just seems to overflow with colors and activity. Thriving with new life, rejuvenated after the bare winter.

This is true for people too. When they're filled with life, beauty just flows out. But where does life come from?

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. (John 6:63)

God is life. When I see/hear/experience my friends filled with the Spirit, it's beautiful. In particular, I'm thinking about the joyful faces and voices during worship and prayer. The more we are filled with the Spirit, the more we exude life and as a result, beauty.

Beauty, part I: The way it should be

October 28, 2008

Beauty. A general definition: something that brings pleasure or satisfaction. But what does that mean exactly? What pleases us? What satisfies?

As a broad generalization, I think we find beauty in the way things should be. Take a look at the pictures I posted before, paying particular attention to the ones with people. The smiling, joyful faces of my baby cousins. The friendship and support shown between Melissa and Kendal. There's no pain, suffering, sorrow, anger, malice, bitterness, or violence in these pictures. What we do see there is joy, hope, love. Delighted innocence. Loving relationship.

I think this goes for the qualities of Jesus that we can see in other people as well. When we get a glimpse into who God made someone to be, it fills us with pleasure. Think of the beauty that we find in a gentle spirit, a strong yet humble leader, a caring friend.

Stay tuned for part II.

Lessons on Building Friendship and Trust

October 27, 2008

More to come on beauty soon, but I was just reminded of this part of Le Petit Prince this evening and felt the need to share. This may be a children's book but it is filled with wisdom. Oh, and it's better in French too. :)

"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."

"I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."

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"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..."

The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.

"Please — tame me!" he said.

"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand."

"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me..."

"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.

"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me — like that — in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day..."

The next day the little prince came back.

"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe the proper rites..."

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So the little prince tamed the fox.

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"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Le Petit Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

Beauty: Food for thought

October 24, 2008

A few of my favorites. Thoughts to come later.














from the top: fall colors, frosty apple, haley and bobby (7mth?), sunset over campus after a storm, butterfly at the orchard, foggy day at Chateau de Chillion in Switzerland, friendship (Melissa and Kendal), flying over the Alps, metaphase during mitosis

What is beauty?

October 21 2008

I was finishing dinner with Jenny and Mateo last weekend when the conversation topic turned to beauty and our perception of it. At one point, someone asked "But how are we defining beauty?" We sat there with wrinkled foreheads and squinted eyes trying to come up with the best definition we could. We moved on from there, never actually coming up with one.

So before I try launching into a analytical blog post about it, I'll turn the question to you:

How do you define beauty?

Spirited

October 14

Today I ran into a former co-worker from my old lab. As we were standing there in the hallway, catching up on life, he asked how I was doing then commented, "You look good. There's spirit in your eyes." It made me smile and then it made me think. I know what he meant, but what was that source of the look on my face. Did he just see spirit in my eyes or the Spirit in my eyes? That conversation made me resolve to be filled with the Spirit this week, not just spirit.

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. (John 6:63) May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

Some really beautiful pictures

Now these, I don't think you can argue with... beautiful.

Top: Haley
Bottom: Bobby

I got to see my cousins (the adorable 1 year old twins shown above) and aunt and uncle yesterday while they were back in Indiana for a visit.
Love love love these kids.

Quote of the day

Beth, asking about my claim that I had beautiful pictures of cells from my experiments last week:

"Are they inherently beautiful or just scientifically beautiful?"

Answer: To most people probably the latter, but I think there's beauty in living, growing, healthy cells.



Baby hamster kidney cells--alive and dead via viral infection
(these were grown via cell culture, not directly from a baby hamster)

At the end of my HTML rope

I've reached the limit of my HTML skills.

My label cloud refuses to become a cloud again, no matter how many times I redo it.

My sidebar is too cluttered for my liking but I'm tired of searching for the "padding" sections that I need to alter to change it. 

And, my description disappeared when I switched templates. 

So here it is. No time/skill for more editing, at least not until I figure out more HTML stuff. 

:)

[This is what I did instead of studying biochem. Ugh. Time to stop putting things off, back to the signal transduction.]