On the lookout for beauty.

Earlier this year, I realized just how much I struggle with jealousy and comparison.  I know it's one of those things that we rarely talk about.  It's hard to admit.  It's messy and it feels yucky. At the same time, it consumes a lot of our energy and our thoughts - and it feels healthy and freeing to talk about it - to bring it into the light.  I have absolutely no data to back this up and no research to prove it, but I am a girl and I'm raising girls and I talk to lots of girls and I think it's something we all struggle with.  I'm pretty confident that I'm not alone in this.

Just before summer, I decided that in hopes of conquering such ways of thinking, relating and behaving - something in me needed to change.

The words that immediately came to mind were this - be on the lookout for beauty and celebrate it.

Without telling anyone, those nine words have been an underlying theme to my summer.

And without exaggerating, it's felt like a game-changer.

I'm finding that when I am constantly on the lookout for beauty, I find it.  It's funny how that works.  I find it in creation and in circumstances and most especially in people.  When I'm tempted to be jealous or to compare myself to someone, I'm starting (slowly) to make the conscious choice to celebrate them.  To celebrate their accomplishments or their relationships or their home or their children or their wardrobe or their appearance and so on.  And guess what - it feels so much better than the alternative.

I love what the Message has to say in Philippians 4:8.

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. 

Years ago, I heard it said at a conference, that when you admire and celebrate a quality in another person, it becomes a part of you.  Such a beautiful image.  I loved it then and I love it now.  That very notion is freeing me up, little by little, to become more generous with celebrating and complimenting others.

These days, I want to be more of a cheerleader to the people around me.

Also, did you know that to receive a compliment with a genuine thank you is one of the most humble things we can do?  It's also a way of blessing the person who had the courage to speak the compliment.

There you have it, friends - want to join me and be on the lookout for beauty and celebrate it?