Find one beautiful thing every day and take a photo of it.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

 

Beauty Day 50 Friendship

(This is my beautiful friend Claudia, whose father recently passed away, in a prior photo of her and myself, and here is the poem she asked me to read at her father’s memorial yesterday. The scene is still fresh in my mind. I wish I had taken a photo of the entire family, because people, especially family–my own and others’–are so beautiful. People are beautiful.  As background to the poem, Claudia’s father was a jeweler.)

♦

In His Image

–To My Father on his Birthday

by Christina Wilson for Claudia Brock

 

In a recess of my jewel box

where the velvet’s been worn away

lies a cornelian cameo pin—

in tones of pink and gray.

 

I remember well the day you gave it

my ears turned and bent away

my hardened heart refused to listen

to what you wanted to say.

 

In the obscure depths of a distant sea

grew the shell, a living stone.

Before it knew the carver’s knife

its features were unknown.

 

Beneath the hand of the carver’s grace

in relief as red as life

a gentle portrait of the carver’s love

through patient skill took shape.

 

I as a child in my time at home

grew as a conch in the sea

and time with its cares, worries, and woe

has been a knife on me.

 

As with the shell whose death, unsealed,

became a graceful form

I thank the only Carver I know

for the love you shed on me.