Living Between the Trees

I'm hanging out at my desk right now watching a Nooma video called "Trees." (Nooma is a ministry consisting of short films that was started by a pastor named Rob Bell a few years back. The videos are amazingly artistic, deeply moving and just all around cool, so check them out if you're not familiar with them. You won't regret it.). Anyway, "Trees" is all about how we live in a fallen time between the Garden of Eden (tree #1) and what's to come when Jesus comes back (tree #2), and how we can take part in planting trees of Paradise around the earth while we're here. The video covers so much about our world and what it means to truly live,. One part that really struck me was when Rob talked about the beauty that God so lovingly created and that he allows to exist in our fallen world -- laughter, music, nature, the list goes on and on and on. This reminded me of a quote I have been obsessed with lately (keep up with this blog and I'm sure you'll find that every week there seems to be a new quote that's my favorite). Frank Lloyd Wright once said that "the longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life." I'm not sure if Wright was a Christian, but I cannot help but think of how this quote speaks to Jesus and the beauty He brings. We live in a crazy world, but amid and even within the chaos, pain and destruction there is so much beauty that we miss because we're so consumed with all of the craziness. The longer we live, the more time we have to seek God and see the beauty he has blessed us with. So today I am looking beyond the craziness of the election, the economy and everything else in order to appreciate the little things in life, which are often the most beautiful.