Encouragement

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I was walking through a "year round" Christmas store and couldn't help but notice all of the Christmas villages on display. From afar, they looked nice, caught my eye, but when I really got up close and looked at all the intricacies of each individual piece, it made the display that much more beautiful and appreciated.

I began to think about our lives and how all too often we look at the BIG picture and we miss the "little" things. Years pass us by and all we can account for is eating, sleeping, and paying the bills ~ a life of what appears mundane when you look through it with "surface" vision.

We do this day after day acknowledging the "existence" of people, places, and things but never noticing their beauty. We grow weary concentrating on what we don't have and miss out on the enjoyment of what is right at our fingertips.

Looking at the villages I was also reminded of a couple of verses in Psalm 139, "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it."

When an artist puts detail into his creation: a painting, a sculpture, a writing ~ it is put there for a reason... for the observer to take notice and find enjoyment in the beauty of it...
God is the Master Creator, the Master Artist and He is into detail! Everything He has ever created is an authentic masterpiece made for not only His pleasure but for ours! BUT we have to slow down to find the joy in the NOW.

Let’s stop merely glancing over the big picture of life. Hit the “zoom in” button and you’ll discover what a fleeting look will never see.
Begin studying the individuality of your children. Love them BIG now right in the midst of their annoyances and quirks. Begin noticing the deeper things deposited within your spouse, significant other, or your friends rather than maintaining “how’s the weather” shallow encounters. Quit waiting for an “easier” or “more convenient” stage of life to live in the now. Before you know it, the chance you had is over. Everything gets pushed off for a future that never comes.

“Slow down and smell the beauty in life…” eb

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