What is beautiful?

I was talking with one of my favorite people in the world tonight.  While we were talking, he was playing with my piano a little bit and talking about how he wished he could make beautiful things...but what exactly was beautiful?  I responded that art was beautiful, music was beautiful, sunsets are beautiful, flowers are beautiful. He stopped my list cold when he said "Are your 7th graders beautiful on the last day of school?  I bet their parents think they're beautiful.  All parents think their kids are beautiful."  I think he was trying to be sarcastic, but at some point, we both realized it was a really good question and point to think about. So I sat there for a moment because my initial response was "NO!  They were crazy today and I hope the 4 hours I have with them tomorrow goes quickly."

But as fast as I thought that, a few things of beauty came to my mind.  For example, the beauty and wonder I saw on my Ukranian student's face when he saw an air popper for the first time.  At the time, he had only been in the U.S. for about two weeks and knew little to no English.  I had two 7th grade boys who were letting Kola shadow them.  They plugged in their popper and when the kernels started to float and come out, Kola took the lid off and tried to look inside!  HA!  All I saw was his face and popcorn shooting 3 feet in the air!  But he was so delighted and fascinated, I couldn't be mad at all.  It was a beautiful moment.

Another beautiful moment was watching two bff's walking down the hall together.  I was standing at my door inbetween classes, trying to be a presence in the halls haha I couldn't hear their conversation, but it was obvious that one was very upset about something.  The other one shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "I don't know but I'm sorry." and then proceeded to put her arm around her friend and continue to walk as the bff rested her head on her shoulder.

I think my favorite beautiful thing I've seen was not recently, but two years ago at Christmas time.  I work with the Sub for Santa program at my school.  We had selected a young girl and her father to be one of our families.  When we spoke with the dad, he had been very gruff and told us that if his daughter wanted something, we'd have to work through her.  So we went to the girl and explained the situation and asked if there was something she wanted for Christmas that we could help with.  She kind of hestitated so I prompted her a little bit.  When she finally responded, her response was simple: "I want a bed for my dad.  He has to sleep on the floor."  Tears welled up in my eyes and I asked her a little more about their situation.  Dad worked nights and slept most days.  But they only had one bedroom and he gave it to his daughter.  He slept in the living room on the floor because the couch hurt his back.  To make a long story short, I made a couple calls and RC Willey donated a $1300 bed set for this dad.  When it was delivered, we pulled into the driveway and the dad walked out.  He looked like he'd been through several trips to Sturgess and back.  When Brandon, the guy I work with, explained that his daughter had only wanted a bed for her dad, this gruff of a man burst into tears.  It was a beautiful moment.

Are my 7th graders beautiful on the last day of school?  Probably not.  But they are at so many other times that its easy to see how their parents think they are beautiful all the time.  I'm not a parent myself, but I feel fairly parental with some of these kids and I do see their beauty even when they're not doing beautiful things. 

I've thought about that concept on an eternal level and I feel really blessed to have a Heavenly Father who thinks I'm beautiful even when I think my 7th graders are not. He's my heavenly parent.  And just like my earthly parents or my students' parents, He's going to find the beauty in me and its up to me to create beautiful moments, not just with art or music or sunsets or flowers, but with my life.