Lately I have reflected on some recent events and found them to be beautiful, wonderful, terrible, and stressful, all mixed up into one. I was thankful that Kate Bowler's new book, Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day!, recently landed on my personal bookshelf and I knew the timing was right to dive into it. "It is the beautiful that tells me what I love," declares Bowler, and the terrible that tells me what I never want to lose."
But in reading this, I was reminded of an older quote by theologian Frederick Buechner: "Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid.” And - a few years ago from Glennon Doyle, “Life is brutal, but it’s also beautiful. Life is Brutiful.”
It is hard to feel all the feelings all at the same time. So much joy, so much pleasure - so much sorrow, so much brokenness. Where are we to find ourselves, when we find ourselves in the beautiful and the terrible?
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 reminds us, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: . . . a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance..." It just doesn't quite speak to when you want to weep and laugh at the same time, you want to mourn and to dance at the same time.
As if on cue, my social media popped up with this gem. I couldn't help but relate to this crying, laughing baby. It truly summed up this slamming together of circumstances.
Let me reassure you today, no matter what feelings are colliding in you today, our invitations as spiritual humans is to welcome them and experience them all. You may need to reach out to a friend to be with you, but the only way through the beautiful and terrible is - well, through.
Have the courage to experience the beautiful, to sit in it and with it and soak it in. Have the courage to experience the terrible, to sit in it and let it pass on through. Both sides take a brave heart, but you've got this. And as always, if you need a friend, this community is filled with safety, support, encouragement, and laughter. Let us know how to sit with you in the beautiful and the terrible.
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