|
Beautiful World This morning I took Daniel to the doctor. He has a real bad case of pink eye. Both his eyes are very red and a bit swollen. Our drive there was full of beauty. It was about 8 a.m. and the air was crisp and cool. It's Wednesday, so the streets were empty. I guess by this time everyone was already at work. It was beautiful even though we were on our way to the doctor's office. While we waited, Evan was playing with his toy gun. There was a young man sitting there with his mom. He looked to be about 16 or 17 years old. He was dressed like a cholo (gangster). He had on the huge pants, the oversized jersey and the net on his head. As Evan played, Evan pointed his gun at this man, and popped the trigger. The gun made a loud "pop" sound. The moment seemed to stand still. I felt the fear in that young man. I felt the fear in his mother-the fear of that reality in his life: in their lives. I called Evan over and told him it wasn’t nice to point his toy gun at people like that. The air was still tense. Evan continued to play and decided to announce to everyone around him that "when a huge bear comes he was gonna shoot it with his gun." The air went soft and calm. We all saw the beauty of a child. The innocence of the world seen through a little boy's eyes. And the world seen through his eyes. The world suddenly became beautiful again. Even that young man grinned at what he heard this little boy say. Maybe it was because of the true bravery he saw in Evan. Maybe Evan reminded him of himself as a little boy. Maybe he understood that Evan hadn't seen him as a target but as a bear. And in this I saw our beautiful world. Our world is constantly filled with beauty. We can make it ugly or we can make the beauty shine and come through in a way that nobody can miss it. Beauty was not meant to simply be seen, but to be felt. That way it will forever stay in us. In our hearts, in our souls. My prayer: Lord, I pray that I never lose sight of what is beautiful. I pray that I don't miss the opportunity during my everyday living to feel all the beautiful things you have created. I pray for beauty to be that one thing that keeps me alive, and close to you. Let me smell beauty; let me feel it in the depths of my soul because in that I will feel you, and I will know that you are there. Let beauty become a part of me so that I can be something beautiful for someone else. Lord I pray for this young man. I pray that you return all the beautiful things in his life that he may feel he has lost. I pray that you strip him of all the things that have turned his beautiful world into a world of confusion and fear. Make this boy beautiful once again. Mireya Neria
|