Lovely

Lovely

Dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

“SLUG BUG! No backs!” Lizzie crowed, leaning over from her spot in the front passenger seat to gently punch me in the arm.

“What? No! Where?” Bewildered, I searched the intersection we sat at. “Oh. The canary-yellow one? It’s lovely—that’s a good color for a Beetle.”

“It’s cute. Also, I said ‘No backs.’ So you can’t hit me back.” Her grin was infectious as she celebrated winning this round of her game.

I’m not interested in vehicles beyond their ability to safely transport me across town, and the makes and models of most cars is utterly wasted on me. Lizzie usually wins our slug bug game because I rarely notice even the distinctive VW Beetles. My gaze slips right past them, my brain never registering what is right before my eyes. It’s only when Lizzie is sitting alongside me that I attempt to scan the roads, noticing how many rainbow-hued little cars share the roads with us, giving the first of us to spy one the opportunity to “slug” the other one.

We see what we look for. Isn’t that an interesting revelation? If we are looking for what is lovely—surroundings or traits in people that are beautiful, hope-filled, and encouraging—our attention will be drawn to those characteristics and circumstances first. We’ll notice the good in the people and places around us. If we’re expecting to be disappointed, disgusted, or dismayed, we’ll find it, our attention skipping over the lovely to focus on the things that fit those criteria.

The question is what are we training our eyes to see? Looking for lovely doesn’t mean we ignore ugly things, naive or blind to reality. It simply means we are searching out God in every person and every circumstance, looking for him at work in the world around us. If we’re looking, we’ll find him.

Lord, thank you for sunsets and rainstorms, for laughter and quiet conversations with dear friends, for favorite foods, scents, and sounds. Help us notice the lovely things around us each day.

-Julie

One Good Step: Make a list of five lovely things you encounter in the people and places you go today.