I have recently blogged about healing. So, the responses from many who follow my blog has led to the great question of “What does healing really look like and where is it leading us?”
I believe the answer lies deeply embedded in our Original Beauty.
Original Beauty is the exact act opposite of the popular teaching of original sin.
Original Beauty comes straight from Genesis’ account of creation. In this story, we learn that sin is not original—not even Adam and Eve’s. The first we hear of sin wasn’t even from a human thought or word. It was from the serpent, postulating a lie and manipulating Eve.
With each passing day of creation, God pronounced his work as “good”—that is until he created Man and Woman. This is the first time he pronounced his work as very good, as he gazed upon his handiwork of Man and Woman.
Originally, they were naked and fearless. They neither longed for nor squirreled away for anything. Then something lied to them, and they were manipulated into being lured away from what was truly original: their beauty, their deep, life-sustaining connection with God, their creator, by a longing—set off by a lie—for Something Else.
In short, Adam and Eve lost sight of the internal peace and joy that they experienced by walking with God in the Garden in the cool of the day. Later, Jesus reminded us that this peace of mind and heart is possible for us to experience even now, far east of Eden.
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27
Many of the gifts of the world are fabulous to enjoy: kind and faithful mates, children, families, houses, cars, pets, friends, health, money in the bank, etc. But, at times, I have had and lost most of these things. And, I cannot say that any of them either brought or stole an internal consistent peace and joy. I can say that sometimes they’ve lured me away from my own heart and Original Beauty.
In fact, at times, I admit that—while I don’t wish for them—deep struggles and difficult times have been the very thing that drew me into a place of surrender where constant peace of heart and mind is always to be found.
Crowder sings a great song with a line in it “I can’t count the times I called your name some broken night. And you showed up and patched me up like you do every time. I get amnesia…”
Don’t we all? Get amnesia that is. Forget first who God is and then who we are. Healing is definitely an inside job. But, like Charlie Mackesy’s beautiful art shows us, we often look for it somewhere O-u-t T-h-e-r-e.
We’ll be diving deeper into this healing journey on this week’s FREE Zoom, an intimate community of fellow sojourner’s supporting each other as we seek our own unique Original Beauty—the sort of healing and wholeness that offers the gift of John 14:27, peace of mind and heart, regardless of the gifts of the world we may have. For more information about rediscovering our Original Beauty, please go to www.kimberlyhighland.com
Love, your sister along the journey,
k
Go to: kimberlyhighland.com for more information or to book a private session
