Beauty and Unexpected Gifts

Posted by DJL on Apr 30, 2013 in Good! | 1 comment

I thought this short video was a perfect counter point to, or maybe extension, of yesterday’s post – and comments! – about beauty.

Chris Heuertz has spent his life working with the poorest of the poor and, most recently, working with children, women, and men who have been caught up in and abused by human trafficking. You can read more about him and his work at Word Made Flesh and on his blog – great title, btw – If I Blogged….

But he’s not just about advocacy or even help. He’s mostly about community, about living with and helping people fashion resilient communities that have weathered the difficult moments that any real community entails and discovering the unexpected gifts that come from the struggle and joy of staying in community. In this kind of community, Chris believes, we find the power to help ourselves by helping each other.

The story he uses in this video – another fantastic piece by The Work of the People (who have a new and awesome website!) – invites us to think again about beauty. In particular, it invites us to ask a question: Might we all be people who can’t really see ourselves and so depend upon others to tell us that we’re beautiful?

Beauty, suddenly, isn’t about looks but rather is, I think, about the impression we make on others and the world, about the potential we have to bear love to and for another, about the worth we hold in God’s eyes. But like the women in yesterday’s video, and like the blind man Chris talks about, we have trouble seeing ourselves accurately, if at all, and so depend on each other to tell us that we are beautiful in this much deeper sense.

One more line that stuck out to me in Chris’ video (paraphrased, to be sure!): We chase after the expected gifts, and precisely because they’re expected they don’t satisfy; but it’s really the unexpected gifts – that often come from the struggle to stay in imperfect communities – that enrich our lives.

Watch the video, and then go help someone see themselves as truly beautiful.

Note: 1) If you’re receiving this post by email, you may need to click here to watch the video.
2) If you like what Chris is saying, check out his new book, Unexpected Gifts: Discovering the Way of Community.