I’m relieved to end 40 Days of Beauty as Spiritual Practice (BASP). The next post will be at The Sacred Ordinary.
It sounds like such a simple and pleasurable practice. BASP is hard to describe. Beauty is not ornamental or superficial even though in the land of lipstick and liposuction it appears that way.
Forty days of practice causes change. Last year’s 40 day discipline made my yoga practice as familiar teeth brushing or laundry. (hey, some people like to do laundry.)
Friday afternoon when I finally had a long-awaited block of free time, I wanted to play with color and texture and spent the afternoon potting paintbrush plants and geraniums then arranging them artfully on the porch.
Did you know that potted plants can bring you closer to God?
I was pleased to read about beauty as spiritual practice in my current bedside book, “Code Talker”, the co-written memoir of Chester Nez, a Marine who helped create unbroken code based on the Navajo language during WWII. Nez describes the soldiers’ approach to Guadalcanal – the fear they experienced, knowing some would die. He writes,
“A chaplain addressed us, reciting a blessing….. I said my own silent prayer. Give me courage. Let me make my country proud. Please protect me. Let me live to walk in beauty.” Around me the other Navajos seemed to be doing the same, each hoping to “walk in beauty” again in their native homes….”
Thank you, friends, for reading Beauty as Spiritual Practice.
beauty as spiritual practice 