Noticing More Beauty

The darling newlyweds came over recently. Those we poured into at the high school ministry - now blazing their own trail in the world. He has taken a position at Dutch Bros. - famous concocters of coffee and syrup and positive teenagers. On his first day, they handed him a brand new laptop and a wage quite generous for he of less than a quarter-century years. The brothers-from-Holland offer catered lunches, a break-room filled with ping-pong tables and arcade games, and, of course, all the coffee you can drink. Jobs are coveted at this local business, recently written up in Forbes Magazine as one of their Small Giants. Everyone want to be a "bro-rista" or have a desk at headquarters. The company seems to reward everyday work ethic. Rather than demanding more-than-the-job-description work ethic, Dutch Bros rewards the average and finds their employees readily go above-and-beyond. The management seems to be more concerned about creating a family of well-rounded, energetic...

This Man of mine was a porn-addict. It may not seem my story to tell, but he bears no shame in it - having brought it to the light to be exposed and expunged and used by God for good in his life. It has been years now, but he tells me that every day he gets further from it, I become more beautiful in his eyes. Though the trap of pornography is usually about deeper issues than lust - often covering deep feelings of failure or inadequacy - it still warps the vision and the mind and imprints comparisons in secret places where there should be none. But these days, when I feel that even my best features have morphed into unrecognizability, his eyes still light up for me, bringing comfort and connection for us both. He is a slave no longer. In the perusing of these thoughts, it comes to me - I am an addict too. I don't seek the clothes-less figures. I seek the human approval. I have enslaved myself to the lust of likes and comments and digital friends. I justify my desi...