Namaste: Acknowledge the Beauty Around You in 2012

~Please watch this video, it will brighten your day~

I would like to thank Michael Schwalm for sharing this beautiful video with me. We are about to journey into a new year, a year that will bring beauty to those who seek it. To those who choose to squander all or some of those 365 days, they will miss beauty. I know there is a great deal to be concerned or frightened about. The economy is still broken, as I write, the Iranian Navy and the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet are sparing in the Strait of Hormuz. According to the Mayan Calender, 2012 will be the last year we will be around. I don't believe that to be true, but imagine if it was. How would you live your last year, month or day?  Would your end times be filled with fear or beauty, wonder and gratitude?

We all seem to try and make resolutions for the new year. I have a suggestion--look for beauty. Look for beauty in the faces you see, the clouds above us, the touch of a loved one. Beyond that look for love. At the beginning of one of my favorite movies, Love Actually, (Yes, I know it is a chick flick), it starts at the arrival gate at Heathrow Airport in London. In many ways Hugh Grant says what I am attempting to communicate:

2012 gives each of us a choice on how to move forward. I would suggest that we live 2012 as if it is going to be our last year. Relationships need to be mended, children need more hugs - as do we all and maybe make yourself a "2012 Bucket List". Who do you wish you could apologize to? Who do you need to forgive? Who do you need to love? All of us have an intrinsic need to love and be loved. If this was your last time around the Sun, what would be on your "2012 Bucket List"? http://www.amazon.com/Bucket-List-Jack-Nicholson/dp/B000YAF4MA/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1325459357&sr=1-1

Lynn Anderson, who has done so much to shape my view of the world, posted his list on Facebook:

"Lord, 2012 is almost here. I have no idea what it will bring.

But it is in your gracious hands, so I am willing...

- To receive what you give

- To lack what you withhold

- To relinquish what you take

- To suffer what you inflict

- To be what you require"

I believe what God requires is that we start to see the world and the people we come in contact as He does. We need to strive to find beauty and love. Embrace it with unencumbered gratitude. Then share that beauty and love. Paul put it this way:

"Finally, brothers, 

whatever is true,

whatever is noble,

whatever is right,

whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely,

whatever is admirable 

--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy

--think about such things"

Philippians 4:8 - (NIV)

So, as we face 2012 together, let us face it looking for beauty and love.

Peace

~Al