Shape Week 7-Refracted Light

What. Is. Beautiful?
Is it the way you notice how
she throws her head back when she laughs?
Or the way they wonder about
the genetic code that causes the corners of her mouth
to turn towards the heavens
like her mother’s?
Is it the unwaveringly dutiful cleaning?
Or the perfectly scattered chaos
that would trade shine and order
for perspective?
When presented with these options
Always choose E:
All of the above

Step away from the ever-stretching blackboard in our minds
where we constantly question "why?"
to every quirk we catch
And "how can anyone love someone so different?"
Step back and see that we are refracted light;
the very image of God distorted by reality,
reflecting qualities in strokes of color

Have you ever considered that your quirks are the key?
That you can say, "I know the Holy Spirits in me”
when he starts stacking
encouragements and apologies or
inventions and philosophies or
compassion and sympathies or
metaphors and similes
higher than the tower of babble ever could have been--
Till you could walk straight up them
To the foot of the throne

And when you feel like you're being chipped at
picked at
Like life has shoved you to the outer edges
of the masses--
Know that no one could be where you are right now
That you might be the only thing
bridging the gap for someone
whose life is hanging on the edge

Experience will guide you
But your heart will keep you
What do you thrive on?
The full stomach of a hungry child?
A perfectly balanced letter?
Or the uncertainty of every moment?

Why do we only seek our pulse when we are sick?
Why would you not seek the epicenter
of everything that makes your veins quake?
Of everything that heaven first spoke to you through?
If our bodies are temples, why are we not listening?
It's time to get in shape.
It’s time to get in your shape.
Because Your. Shape. Is. Beautiful.

 

Written by: Brianna Vanderveen

Edited by: Tamara Sturdivant