All my life, I’ve felt that I had always been searching for the beautiful and the good. I wanted to find it in this world I’m living in. I wanted to find it in myself. I wanted to find it in other people.
Whenever I had a glimpse of it, I feel that my life becomes meaningful. Somehow, I feel that the beauty and the goodness I see transfer a little bit of their substance in me, and I, too, become beautiful and good.
It’s like looking at a magnificent sunrise and being showered by its warmth. A warmth that warms not only one’s body but also one’s heart and soul.
In that small space of time, as I gaze upon the rising sun, I absorb some of its light, and some of its magnificence. I, too, become a little sun that’s filled with warmth and with light.
Oh, that I may also absorb the beauty of Him whose beauty and whose light is beyond measure. May I not neglect those moments of prayer when I become immersed in His goodness and His goodness somehow makes its way upon my soul.
“Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.”- St. Augustine
The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
"Where Hope Can Be Found"