Something Beautiful from God and for God

Words by Greg Tinker

"He will give... beauty for ashes..." - Isaiah 61:3a, NLT

"Let's do something beautiful for God." - Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Poverty. Abject poverty as far as the eye could see.

Ashes. No hope. No beauty.

But then, amid the sea of ugliness and despair appeared a blue and white "flower," a diminutive Albanian nun. Her heart brimming with profound love, she entered that desperate, broken, slum-filled world with the express purpose of "doing something beautiful for God."

And so, she continued day after day, year after year, until Calcutta became a place of "attraction" for those desiring to join Mother's ministry of transforming ashes into beauty.

Interestingly, though Mother welcomed visiting workers to her Mission of Charity, she offered this sage advice to some would-be missionaries to India, "Find your own Calcutta." Her point:  you can find "Calcutta" anywhere if you have eyes to see and a heart willing to respond.

As God's people, as His "image bearers," we are commissioned to take His beauty—His love, His grace, His mercy—into our world, to the place where our feet are, to those directly in front of us, to those within our sphere of influence.

What does that beauty look like?

This: A smile. A hug. A shoulder to cry on. A text, note, or card of encouragement. A thoughtful gift that communicates "you matter." A visit, where the goal is to be entirely present to the one being visited. A word of wisdom to those searching for answers. A prayer, immediate and sincere, for one who can see no way out.

The key: we must become intentional people; we have to approach each day with the goal of "doing something beautiful for God."

Imagine if every disciple of Jesus, all of us, everywhere, navigated our days with this purpose in mind. Without a doubt, there would be a veritable "revolution" of beauty all around us, a beauty pervasive enough to transform our culture through the grand unveiling of the goodness of God.

It can happen. Christ proved it. His great grace and mercy transformed one of the ancient world's ugliest symbols of hate and violence—the cross—into a beautiful symbol of love and peace.

Here, then, is the path forward. What we have received from God—the beauty of amazing grace and unconditional love—we are to give away in abundance. As we do this, an exquisite mosaic of beautiful things, inspired and initiated by God, will be produced for the benefit of mankind and the glory of God.

The good news: it's entirely doable—one person at a time, one act at a time.

So, let's "find our own Calcutta" and "do something beautiful for God."

A fellow beggar along the Way,

Greg