Beauty & Neglect

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The sun shines high on a man standing on the corner of a street. It’s a warm day, but not too warm. The temperature sits right around 70 degrees, and there’s a slight breeze in the air coming from the south that hits him at just the right moments, wicking the sweat from his brow each time it begins to form.

The man has no home, and he’s looking for marijuana, at least that’s what his cardboard sign says. There’s pain on his face. Physical pain based on the scars you see. Emotional pain based on the cars you see passing him, not offering the help he needs.

But still, the sun is shining on this man on this warm day with a warm breeze.

And isn’t that the irony?

That there can be such such beauty and relief happening to a person, while such pain and neglect are happening simultaneously to the same person.

And in that moment, as another human being, I too feel the beauty of the warm and the pain of the neglect, while also wondering, what would this man see when if he looked at me?

-Cliff

Cliff’s Note: “If we experience God’s blessings, we must accept trials as well.”