{"id":4077,"date":"2016-01-05T20:38:15","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T20:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/?p=4077"},"modified":"2016-01-05T20:38:15","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T20:38:15","slug":"the-beauty-remains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/the-beauty-remains\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beauty Remains"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"renoir\"<\/a><\/h5>\n
August 11, 2013<\/h5>\n

Luke 12:32-48<\/h3>\n

Today\u2019s gospel seems harsh and demanding. We are said to be servants waiting the return of our master. Of course, the master is Christ who will return at the end of time to establish God\u2019s kingdom. But, until that time when Christ comes, Jesus expects us to be active, to be vigilant, to be busy. Jesus expects us to work.<\/p>\n

The gospel seems demanding because its emphasis is on our work, our service, our responsibility to build the kingdom of God. Just as soon as Jesus lowers that obligation upon us, it is easy to flee for cover. We can all look for excuses. \u201cYes, I know I\u2019m supposed to be loving, generous, forgiving, patient, and kind, but I have only so much energy.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m not feeling all that well today.\u201d \u201cI have other things that I have to do first.\u201d So, there you have it. Christ calls us to build the kingdom of God, and we have all kinds of reasons why we are too busy, too depressed, too tired, too old, or too weak to do it.<\/p>\n

So, how do we turn this around? How do we become the servants that Christ asks us to be? How do we motivate ourselves to build God\u2019s kingdom?\u00a0It might surprise you, but what might be missing in this enterprise is beauty. August Renoir was one of the greatest painters of all time. His paintings are alive with color and beauty. Yet, for the last 20 years of Renoir\u2019s life, he dealt with crippling arthritis. His hands were twisted and gnarled. He actually had to tie his paintbrush onto his hand in order to hold it. The arthritis also inflicted his back so he could not stand while he was painting. He required assistance to move from one position to the next. Every brush stroke, every movement was torture.\u00a0On one occasion, his friend Matisse asked him, \u201cAugust, why do you keep torturing yourself in this way? You don\u2019t need the money. Why do you keep painting?\u201d Renoir answered, \u201cThe pain passes, but the beauty remains.\u201d<\/p>\n

Renoir was able to push through the pain of his arthritis because he saw the beauty in what he was creating. He was able to accomplish what he could not out of obligation but out of the realization that what he was doing was important. We can apply this same attitude to doing the work of the gospel, because the work of Christ is both beautiful and important.<\/p>\n

Yes, it is difficult at times to be patient and understanding with our children, with our parents, with our spouse. The fact that Christ commands us to do so doesn\u2019t make it any easier. But, if we could see the beautiful parts of the people in our family, if we could recognize their sincerity, their innocence, their honesty, their energy, we could push through all the frustrating peculiarities and love them.<\/p>\n

Yes, it is difficult at times to find the time and energy to help others: to give some time to the elderly neighbor who lives on our street, to work in a soup kitchen, to volunteer to teach a child to read. But, if we could remember the beauty of the people that we help and how important it is to have them fed, literate, and not alone, we could push through all the complications of our schedules and serve them.<\/p>\n

When we\u2019re dealing with grief or arthritis or discouragement, it is difficult to remain positive. But, if we could see the beauty of the smile that we could bring to another\u2019s face, and understand the way that our attitude can lift the attitude of others, we can push through the pain and be the presence of Christ to those around us.<\/p>\n

Jesus calls us to build God\u2019s kingdom, and that is work. But if we see the beauty of the people in our families, the people in the world, and the importance of the people that we help, we can push through all the excuses and become Christ\u2019s servants.\u00a0The pain passes, but the beauty remains. Choose today to be a part of the beauty of God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If we see the beauty of the people in our lives, we can push through excuses and become Christ\u2019s servants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5879,"featured_media":4081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/files\/2016\/08\/renoir.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5879"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}