Finding Beauty

This is a pen and ink I found in my drawer of old drawings. It is called Finding Beauty. I remember the incident which sparked this picture.

We were living in a very old house with single wall construction--there was no insulation. The idea was to fix the old place, building equity as we went--sweat equity. That first winter all five of us lived in the tiny living room and adjacent bedroom--about 450 square feet. A wool blanket separated those rooms from the rest of the house, where in winter one could set a cup of water on the window sill to find it frozen by morning. The house also leaked like a sieve. We had no way to fix the leaks, and our things were being damaged. I felt desperate and could find no beauty in where we were living.

Mumsie came over one weekend and I was pouring out my heart to her. She listened. And then we went in to look at the leaking roof. She smiled with a mischievous twinkle. "Look here," she said pointing at the brown stains on the ceiling. "You can see a face right there."

"And there's a hippopotamus," I replied.

"And a rosebud," she returned. We looked into one another's eyes and I began to laugh. Deep uncontrollable belly laughter. We laughed until our stomach muscles were sore. Suddenly I had found unexpected beauty and could see the humor in my situation.

Things were still hard after that, but I saw everything in a new light.

DADDY UPDATE: Both Dad and Mom slept through the night. Dad did not have any flashbacks or nightmares, and seems quite plucky this morning. Please continue to pray for Dad and Mom. There are also emotional hurts which must heal along with their bodies.