For the Beauty
by Rev. Lane Williams
I Walk With Beauty
I walk with beauty before me.
I walk with beauty behind me.
I walk with beauty below me.
I walk with beauty above me.
I walk with beauty all around me.
In beauty it is finished.
In beauty it is finished.
(Adapted from a Navaho chant)
Here in beautiful New England, we know that we do walk with beauty. We see it all around us in the trees, the lakes, and the picturesque villages. It’s not difficult to see God’s glory in Vermont. It doesn’t require a dedicated, disciplined spiritual practice of beholding the Christ in all of life for the Truth student here in Vermont, where I am writing today. It is easy to see beauty all around us. We know that we are surrounded by and enfolded in the very life of God. Spirit’s breath is in the wind. God’s substance is in the soil. We live, move and have our being in God’s good. We hear the voice of the All That Is in the bird’s calling. We truly experience the glory of God in all its diversity pouring forth from every rock, tree, flower and stream. As the 19th Psalm says, “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.” The psalmist must have been writing of Vermont.
However that wasn’t evident for me in August. This year August was about sorting, releasing and packing all of my worldly possessions. There were many days of seemingly endless heat and humidity there in Kansas City. There was dirt, dust and disorder all around me. A part of me knew, of course, that this was a necessary part of moving to my new home and my ministry, yet where was the peace and harmony in the midst of this chaos? Many times I considered giving my stuff all away and thus avoiding this horrendous task. And yet as I ventured through the morass of my stuff, I remembered who had given me this or where I bought that and I smiled. Sometimes I was moved to tears. I continually asked myself, “Is this thing useful, beautiful or does it bring me pleasure?” I also asked, “Have you used this in the last two years, Lane?” So I moved through this process slowly, as fast as I could go. There were piles of stuff; boxes everywhere and only narrow paths through it all. There was chaos all around me and I was cranky.
Then in my sorting I found Tony Hillerman’s mystery, The Blessing Way, which I had read and loved long ago. I chose to reread it as a break from the hard work each day.
The protagonist of the book is a Navaho policeman, Jim Chee, who is training to be a healer. He is a holy man working in an unholy profession. The story takes place in New Mexico and Arizona Reservations. I have been in this area. I lived in New Mexico. I know what it’s like. From my Western Anglo perspective it’s desolate, poverty stricken, run-down, and ugly. It’s hard for me to see the beauty in that dry, barren terrain. Jim Chee, my hero, brings himself to center in the midst of fear, evil and danger. He connects to his oneness with the All That Is and the beauty all around him. He beholds the beauty of Nature all around him. This is part of his Navaho tradition. I am reminded also that in the Buddhist tradition the lotus flower is revered. The lotus is not a pampered protected fragile flower. No, quite the opposite, out of the muck and murky waters of the marsh, in the midst of algae and weeds, the glorious lotus emerges. It blossoms in radiant beauty, outshining the impurities surrounding it. This is a reoccurring lesson for me: beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. I choose to behold the beauty around me. I live my life from the beauty of God within me. I bring it forth from within despite the ugliness, the chaos, the fear and anger that may be swirling in my outer world.
This was the blessing way for me in my moving, i.e. relocating process – to see the beauty, to create the order and harmony out of the chaos. For I am not a victim of my circumstances, I have the power to see the beauty, peace, order and harmony all around me. I will focus on all this, giving thanks for it all, feeling the peace, breathing in the beauty, and as I do so, all God’s good expands. I see only God’s peace, love and harmony. I walk in Beauty. I walk with Beauty. Thank you, God.
