Saved by Beauty

Last updated on: April 5, 2010 at 2:16 pm by Deborah Arca

Saved by Beauty 2010-04-05T14:16:37+00:00 Deborah Arca

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A resurrection story from guest blogger Mark Yaconelli:

I met a woman who was healed by beauty. An alcoholic who spent fifteen years keeping the anger and bitterness of her heart anesthetized; a woman who sought abusive men, because their anger, their fists, somehow confirmed, and gave expression to the self-hatred within. Until one morning, at thirty-eight years old, she woke up and noticed her house was in shambles and decided, for some mysterious reason, to clean it up. She picked up clothes, did dishes, vacuumed floors, set the garbage outside, scrubbed toilets, and mopped floors. Without any conscious intention, for the first time in a decade, she made it through morning and into late afternoon sober. The experience was so strange and exotic that even though it was December, in the mountains of Southern Oregon, even though the air was cold and damp, she felt a burning desire to go outside. She wanted to see what the outdoors felt like with her senses awake, without the dull blanket of alcohol.

In a t-shirt and jeans, her feet covered in wool socks, she walked outside onto the rough, wild grass of the mountain cabin she’d been renting. She looked up and noticed, as if for the first time, the deep green of the Siskiyou mountains. She stood spellbound by the black clouds that waited patiently at rim of these same green mountains. She could sense the winter sun glowing within a dark shroud of clouds and then heard herself gasp when this same sun splintered the dark grey eyelids and spread a thin shaft of yellow light across the mountains and spilled down over the soft and rolling farmlands at the bottom of the Rogue Valley. “I just fell back, sat in the wet grass, and began to weep. It was not the kind of nature image that anyone would paint or put at the end of a movie…it was just dark, messy storm clouds gathering, and muted sunlight, and the damp green mountains of an Oregon winter–but I saw it, and I heard the wind, and I could smell the cold grass and pine trees, and I could feel, on my skin, the warmth of the sun, this warmth coming across a million miles of dark space just to land, for a few seconds, on my poor, confused face. That was the day I stopped drinking. That was the moment I changed my life. That was the day beauty saved me.”

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 2, 2010

Musings from A Meandering Pilgrim #1

Next Post

April 6, 2010 The Changing Church

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Author Interviews Battle Over the Body and Blood of Christ Bearing Beauty Book Reviews Christian Education christian spirituallity christianity Christmas Church Church Leadership Contemplation Creation Care Death and Dying Death Penalty Disruptive Change Disruptors Series Easter Education Evolution and Faith Future of Progressive Christianity Gun Violence Health & Wellness Holy Week Interfaith Israel-Palestine Leading Differently Lent LGBTQ Living with Cancer Meditations on the Cross Mental Illness millennials Mimetic Mondays Monday Meditations Movie Reviews New Monasticism Pando Populus Parenting Patheos 10+1 Q&A Series PC(USA) Politics Pop Culture Practical Theology Series Prayer progressive christian Race Relations Reformation religion Religion and Politics Religion in America Rethink Church Social Justice Spirituality Spirituality of the Body Stump a Scholar Technology and Faith Thanksgiving Theodicy Trust Me Church Uncategorized Why I'm Still Christian Youth Ministry

Select a Month December 2025 April 2025 January 2025 September 2023 September 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 November 2021 October 2021 May 2021 February 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 June 2020 May 2020 March 2020 June 2019 March 2019 January 2019 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who asked Jesus, "What is truth?"

Select your answer to see how you score.

Herod Caiaphas Pilate Nicodemus