When You Find Beauty

When you find beauty,

truth,

love,

treasure it.

Hold it;

be gentle

and prepared to let go if it needs it

or if other beauty,

other truth,

other love

succeeds it.

When others find beauty,

truth,

and love

and you cannot see it,

respect it,

be gentle with it -

it might be you who is blind,

not they who are deceived.

Do not cling to what you see is beautiful,

true,

good

and wise

or use them as shields to hold off

other people’s minds.

But see the outworking of the others' beauty,

their truth,

their goodness

and if it is beautiful,

celebrate -

Take truth and beauty

wherever you may find it.

By Ruth Calder Murphy

Painting: "Portal" by Ruth Calder Murphy

www.ruthcaldermurphy.com