How to live a richly beautiful life: 3 simple ingredients
There’s a painful space between what is and what should be, between hope’s conception and fulfillment.
We live in this gap with the tension of unfulfilled dreams.
The heartache of loss. The sickness of deferred hope.
Life isn’t quite what we expected. We’re longing for wholeness or relationships or children,
mending grief or marking time in kitchens and cubicles.
Amidst soul holes and unfulfilled dreams and mundane sameness, we long for more.
To matter.
To find beauty.
To be whole.
To be meaningful.
But right here, in the midst of our messy lives, in the now and not yet, we can choose to live beautifully. Life will always be imperfect. But it is no less wonderful for its imperfections.
I refuse
to allow hardships or monotony to rob me of wonder.
to live chained by brokenness or bad mindsets.
to concede my soul to outward circumstances or inward voices of defeat.
to resign that my life just “is what it is.”
I won’t live with a mantra of discontent or waste my days longing for what I don’t have. I choose to unearth a meaningful existence in every one of my todays, to chase down the life my heart longs for: one of joy in hidden moments, wholeness instead of perfection, and purpose threaded through my life.
Will you join me?
We’re all looking for friends for this journey, to laugh and cry and make sense of it all, for others who won’t make us feel ashamed of our pieces or hide our gifts.
You’re not alone.
You matter. The things that gnaw on your soul are important:
the dreams,
the hurts,
the injustice you hate.
They matter. And you should have the life you long for: of joy, wholeness and purpose.
We can find it together.
JOY
We can wring joy from every day, in still moments and silent thanks to the Giver of all good things.
Drink deeply of goodness and beauty, dwell on it, obsess over it, taste it again and again.
We won’t minimize pain or cheapen the ache, but together we’ll find the glimmer of hope on darkest days.
WHOLENESS
We can chase wholeness
because our broken pieces matter
and we can’t give what we don’t have.
We can do what terrifies us.
love deeply
face our demons (they aren’t as strong as they say they are).
We can care for ourselves so we can care for others, look into our shattered places and find ourselves more whole than we ever dreamed.
PURPOSE
We can find purpose hidden in both strengths and struggles and be generous with our stories,
because somebody needs to hear and know they’re not alone.
We can help each other be brave,
stand together when we aren’t.
We can make the way easier for others,
the way some did for us.
We can change the world,
if just for one person.
We can make a difference,
live like kindness is our currency,
like hope is our native tongue
We can live fully in these gaps, these nows and not yets.
We can make a beautiful between.
Lately, I’ve been considering the message and encouragement I most want to share with you and how I can best serve you.
This is it: no matter where you are, what your story or brokenness looks like, you can live a rich and beautiful life. Right now, without accomplishing anything or changing who you are. Your life is meaningful and purposeful; it can also be full of joy and wholeness.
This post was originally written in March of 2016 to sum up that core message. As I pray for and think of you, I can’t shake the thought of sharing this. I pray it’s timely.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please share them with me at sarah@beautifulbetween.com or here in the comments.
Wow! This is powerful, Sarah. I need to work on mine, but I’m in the middle of working on something due in a few hours 🙂
Thank you so much, Amy! I hope you make your deadline (and aren’t up all night working on it!). Thanks for coming by!
Umm, no I didn’t read your manifesto before I wrote mine:), and I am surprised and encouraged to see the similarities between them. Yours is beautifully and tenderly expressed; I love it!
Thanks so much, Aimee! I didn’t think you had 🙂 I always love finding kindred spirits! Thanks again for the kind words and for stopping by!
Sarah,
I love your heart. You expressed hope so well. I believe.
xo
Pamela
Love it Sarah. Well done. Glad to be on this challenge with you.
Thanks so much, Janis! Always glad to be in the trenches with you!
Sarah,
How do you make every single post better than the one before? Goodness, this is so powerful, HOPEful, inviting, and contagious!
I love it!
Steve, thank you so much, my friend! This one has been MONTHS in the works 😉 So maybe they just need time to percolate!
This is great! Thanks for sharing!!!! You’re a beautiful writer!!! I did most of the challenge, but wish I could’ve connected with you more! 🙂 I’d love to stay in touch! A lot of your manifesto resonates with my heart as a blogger, too! 🙂 id love to encourage each other a share guest posts!!!
Oh, Sarah, you are so sweet! Let’s fix that and connect more in the future 🙂 I’d love to stay in touch as well! Thank you!
I really love this Sarah. I feel so connected to you when I read. I love this line: I choose to unearth a meaningful existence in every one of my todays.
Thank you!
Sarah, this is beautiful and as long as there is brokenness in this world, it will be relevant. I love the idea of living like kindness is our currency.
“Joy in hidden moments, wholeness instead of perfection”, is what you give to me. Love you and love the words the Giver of all good things gives you.
Your eloquent post really hits home! Thank you for sharing! It is so inspiring and true.