Safe Haven

We live in a society where there are so many different definitions of beauty. How many of them are superficial? Glossy, blonde, slim, sparkling eyes, bright colours, smooth skin, how many of these definitions sound familiar? We need to look past those veils and appreciate the real beauty. There is so much more in our world that is beautiful.

When I think of beauty, I see my cousin William, who will never speak, never get married, never live independently, never have a “normal life” but the way he smiles softly and snuggles up when you sit with him, silently and uncomprehendingly expressing his affection in the only way a disabled 11 year old boy like Will can. That to me is beautiful.

A little lady sitting at the bus stop with her purse and small fluffy dog, with a calm look on her wrinkled face and a twinkle in her eyes that says she’s thinking about the past. The things she must have seen, in her time she must have experienced so much. Such wisdom, is it not beautiful?

A baby taking its first steps into the arms of loving parents; a young girl riding her bike along the path without training wheels; kindergarten children wearing uniforms that look tiny and bags nearly bigger then them on their first day of school; a couple laughing as their photo is taken on their wedding day; an old man and his wife sitting on a park bench. Someone smiling even though it’s the last thing they feel like doing. Such strength. Those things are beautiful.

The things I’ve seen: waterfalls cascading down over rocks like a release of tension, flowers just bursting out into bloom after a long winter, a cloud shaped like a love heart, a slice of rainbow you glimpse for a moment, sap on a tree trunk descending like blood red tears, a flooded plain after a long awaited rain, the sunset over golden hills out past Jugiong as we drive home from Canberra. Beautiful.

Sometimes it’s the things close to us, those little things that make us love home. Lavender swaying in the breeze out the front of my small country home, my jack-russell Jessie looking up at me with adoring eyes, my mum cooking dinner in our tidy kitchen, dad typing busily at his computer with his glasses on and his hair all messed up, my little sister Grace singing happily to herself as she sorts through her school bag, my family sitting in the firelight talking on a winter’s night. These things are beautiful.

Songs are beautiful, people are beautiful, nature is beautiful, family is beautiful.

Life is beautiful. Appreciate it.