Beauty

November 9, 2023 Sharon Jacobson

Beauty

One day you will be beautiful,
that is what she said to me.
She had a litany of reasons
she saw me as ugly.
Her reasons really do not matter,
what matters is I know I am beautiful
just as I am.
I was created by
and in the image of
the Ultimate.
What makes anyone beautiful
is not necessarily what is on the outside,
but the beauty that radiates from within.
Have I met people that the world would view
as ugly? Sure.
However, I know there is more to them
then what is on the outside.
I look for the beauty within everyone I meet.
Are they loving?
Do they treat people with dignity and respect?
If nothing else,
they are blessed,
because they too were created in the image of the Ultimate.
We were all created to represent
the diversity of life.
Beauty is
in the eyes of the beholder.
I will look for your beauty,
regardless of whether you look for mine.

100% of our donations go to support our ability to provide low and no cost offerings to those seeking to grow and evolve spiritually.

Donate

La Confidence

April 24, 2023 Sharon Jacobson

La Confidence

Have you ever seen an image
that transfixed you,
drew you in to a space
you could not seem to leave.
A piece of art that
that had such a powerful effect
on your soul
that decades later
you still remember that feeling.
It was the day I walked into the Museum of Art
at the University of Georgia
and stood before this painting
that was as tall as I am short
and literally took my breath away.
As I stared at these two women
whispering secrets to each other
I could see the blood moving through their veins.
I could hear them breathing.
I could feel the bond they shared.
I was not looking at an image.
I was in the garden with them
and had accidentally entered into this moment.
Art, is transformative.
It takes the pain and hurt in the world
and brings it to life in a way
that draws one in
and allows one to experience the Divine
in undescribable ways.
Whether is it paintings, sculptures, film, prose, poetry,
or other art form,
it has the potential to draw you in
and reveal to you
the presence of the Ultimate
in the unexpected.

100% of God our donations go to support our ability to provide low and no cost offerings to those seeking to grow and evolve spiritually.

Donate

CRACKFINDERS

October 24, 2022 Sharon Jacobson

Crackfinders

I have always been a crackfinder.
My major professor used to say that about me.
She said I found ways of seeing the people
society had pushed between the cracks.
Matthew Fox taught me to look in the cracks
and see the beauty that grows within them.
Spending time seeing the beauty in the cracks
reminded me of those who lived below the surface
like in Beauty and the Beast.
What makes people beautiful
is not how they look on the outside,
but what is adorning the inside
and all the things in life that have
created cracks,
which bring their inner beauty and brilliance
to the surface.
What if we each became crackfinders
and looked for the beauty in everyone we meet.
The beauty in life is everywhere.
We can see it in the cracks and that which grows within it.
It is in the color of the flowers
and the leaves
and the smell of freshly cut grass
and all the things which scream out at you
and say I am a gift from the Divine
just letting you know I am here
hidden in a crack only you can see.

100% of God our donations go to support our ability to provide low and no cost offerings to those seeking to grow and evolve spiritually.

Donate

In the Image of God

January 7, 2019 Sharon Jacobson

I was five
and saw this woman
who I told my Bubby
was so ugly.
She is beautiful
in God’s eyes.
She is a creation
of the divine,
she said.

Beauty is not
in the eyes of
the beholder
Beauty is in
the wisdom of
the creator

You look like a whale
the little boy said.
Thank you, for seeing,
the grace in all of
God’s creations,
I replied

Beauty is not about
what we have been
told is beauty.
Beauty is about
the ability to
see the Divine
in all of creation.

Today may we
seek the beauty
in all
May we remember
we are all created
in the image of God.

Donate

Pied Beauty

February 24, 2015 Sharon Jacobson

Recently, I was challenged to see the beauty in a series of things mentioned in a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, called Pied Beauty. For those who are not familiar with it, and for those who are, here is the poem.

Glory be to God for dappled things –

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;

And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

Beauty in Tears

February 18, 2015 Sharon Jacobson

All this month I have been thinking about and reflecting on the practice of beauty. I have practiced seeing the beauty in everyone I meet, every situation I am in, and every place I go. The other day I was having a conversation with a dear friend who is going through a challenging time. I had to stop and ask myself where is the beauty in an illness, which makes someone suffer and feel as if the Divine has abandoned them. When I prayed with her, I was somehow about to express all that was in her heart and that she had not been able to find the words for in her own prayers. While I have never been in my friend’s place, I could empathize by thinking about the times I had felt broken, forsaken, and abandoned. It was during this time that I discovered a simple truth.

After the animals leave

February 10, 2015 Sharon Jacobson

This month, I have challenged each of us to awaken to the beauty in life and its experiences. Perhaps that is why I was drawn to this quote by Emily Dickinson who wrote: “Beauty is not caused. It is.” As we focus on our connection to the Divine and the presence of the Divine in us, we are better able to appreciate beauty in everything we see, touch, and experience. As John Keats's observed in Ode on a Grecian Urn: 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty.' As we live in the truth of who we are as spiritual beings brought here by the Ultimate, we can begin to recognize not only the beauty within ourselves but all of life. Each time we see beauty, we see a symbol of the Divine. Every time we encounter truth, we encounter a symbol of the Creative Spirit. Every day of our lives, we are invited to experience the beauty in each day.

Simplify and Declutter

February 3, 2015 Sharon Jacobson

When I was in seminary, I was introduced to the writing of Dorothee Soelle. The first of her books I was exposed to was Thinking About God. Since then I have had the chance to watch her writing evolve and as it has, it has helped me to evolve in my own life and journey. Her more recent book, The Silent Cry has influenced my own approach to the spiritual practice of leading a more simplistic and clutter free life.

So often, when people reflect on asceticism, they tend to think about this sense of denial and strict discipline of all indulgences. As Soelle reflected on this, it was not asceticism to the point of denial of all things, but the development of boundaries in our life, which prevent our soul from being devoured by clutter in our life. It is about finding balance in our lives as we work on simplifying and decluttering our lives. The impoverishment of our lives of all that feeds us is not healthy. At the same time, an overabundance can also impoverish the soul. It is hard for us to develop any kind of meaningful relationship with anything in our lives when we lack boundaries and balance.

What Makes us Beautiful?

July 15, 2013 Sharon Jacobson

A few weeks ago, I received an email from my friend Jane Patterson, who lives in Australia. I like to say that Jane is one of the most beautiful spirits I will probably never meet. Jane told me about a woman, Natalie McComas, who was doing a photographic series called Beautiful in this Skin. According to Natalie, this series “portrays subjects with dramatic, visible birthmarks and explores the effects this has had on their lives and psyches. This series celebrates these unique skin formations whilst also inspiring those, who may have a similar condition, to feel special and beautiful in their own skin.”[1]

You are more then a number.

July 2, 2013 Sharon Jacobson

We had just finished healing harbor last night. I was feeling spiritually fulfilled that we had been able to provide healing to so many people. At the same time, I was physically exhausted, my body ached from the rain, my eyes itched from my allergies, and every cell in my being just wanted to crawl into bed. It had been a marvelous and enriching day and then one of my healing staff said something, which just made the whole day a little brighter. “I really like your hair like that.” All I could do was take a deep breath and say was “thank you.” The funny thing was that I have wanted to shave it all off again, but Zoe has been encouraging me to let it grow.

Nullam id dolor elit

Integer posuere erat

Communicate With Us

Where We are located