Philip Gulley

...We always look for Christ amid magnificence. But ... Christ has a history of showing up amide the unlovely. Born in a dirty stall. Crowned with thorns. Died gasping on a shameful cross atop a jagged rise.We don't need to be beautiful for Christ to take us in. He is equally at home when we're broken-down and dirty. It's like George Herbert wrote:'And here in dust and dirt, O here,The lilies of God's love appear.'We think magnificence is in short supply, that dust and dirt choke out the lilies. But that's not true and never was. Lilies may root in dirt, but they reach for heaven__nd in the reaching, reveal their magnificence.__hapter 24

There is a certain transcendent joy in creating a thing of beauty. But even more fulfilling is to become a being of beauty.