Beauty Was a Beetle

Life seems to pass by us in a blur and in order to keep up we need to go through life at high speed. Work, school, family demand so much of our time that we feel 24 hours is not enough. We go through the daily routines of life tired missing out on the beauty God has created for us to enjoy... Or maybe this just describes me.

My life in school has me pretty much on full speed. Requirements from teachers, exams, seminars, and personal life all have me tired and wishing I had 42 hours a day to finish the myriad of work that is being piled on me. But today I had a treat. Today time stopped. Today I glimpsed beauty.

On my way up to my apartment I noticed a small beetle on the stairs. I stopped to look closely at it and marvelled how beautiful it was up close. It’s back was colored a shiny green, blue, yellow, and orange that all blended together leaving a beautiful medley of colors that cannot be captured in words. The sight made me catch my breath. I quickly got out my cellphone and stooped down to get a close up picture of the beetle. Praying the insect would not fly away I quickly snapped a couple of pictures and continued on my way home. 

But that incident kept bugging me and got me thinking. How many times have I missed the simple, beautiful things that God has placed for me to enjoy? How many times have I rushed through my day trying to get to a destination as fast as possible? How many times have I allowed the noise of my thoughts to drown out the silence and calm of an empty house? How many times have I destroyed a beautiful sunset with all the worries I carried about tomorrow? How many times have I missed joy? How many times have I missed beauty?

Don’t get me wrong, God is not against hard work. In fact one of the things God hates is a lazy person who does nothing but sit on his butt the whole day and expect to still have 3 meals a day. But where do we draw the line between hard work and too much work? 

We go through life blinded by expectations, work loads, responsibilities. We go through life rushing here and there. We go through life oblivious of the beauty of creation meant for us. Then we wonder why people die of stress younger. We wonder why depression is a common sickness we try to drown with pills. We wonder why relationships fall apart when we get a promotion. We wonder why suicide is a common thing. 

That little beetle was my wake up call. A call to go through life looking for beauty in the tiniest of things. For beauty can be the light bulb that disrupts your dull routine and causes you to blink for the first time.  

Stop. Be silent. Look for beauty. See how it can transform your life.