"Glamour is not Beauty"

John O'Donohue "insisted that Beauty is a human calling and a defining aspect of God." Beauty comes from the tangle of roots inside. They tap the wellspring of the soul to bring forth creation, creativity. There is beauty in the landscape, the duck's insistent quacking on the pond this morning, the maples slow turning to red.

Last week, may daughter's class visited the nursing home as part of their yearly service project. The 20 children pranced into the dining hall to meet their elder buddies, two kids per elder. The children squired and shook with a wildness around the elders who sat hunched in wheelchairs like snow covered mountains. Several residents sported orange stains on their shirts, a remnant of breakfast slipped from a shaky spoon. Jeanie Bear clapped and smiled when we sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," loudly and all together. Alex was delighted to learn that his elder buddy lived her whole life on a farm in the town where he lives now. Because she was blind, Helen held the hands of both of her buddies so she could know where they were. Their soft hands warmed her cold fingers. Jacob couldn't speak or move his hands, so his buddies sang songs to him rather than playing the games they had brought.

Glamour, like wrinkles, resides on the surface of the skin cut off from the deeply nourishing compost that supports our rendering of beauty in the world. God lives in the compost.