ZPCBlog

About the author: Brian and Cynthia McCall have been long time members of ZPC and involved in a variety of different ministries here. We have 4 children and 5 grands that are spread out between Indy, Florida, and Dominican Republic. Thankfully, we love to travel so we get to see them all. We also own a jewelry business in downtown Zionsville.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the one who spreads the good news of peace and salvation; the good news that the God of Israel reigns!
Isaiah 52:7

Few are the people who can gaze upon a mountain vista or a spectacular sunset without being struck and lifted, at least for a moment, by that beauty. The arts bring us so much beauty as well; music, painting, dance…there are so many.

I’m very blessed to work in a place where I am surrounded by so many beautiful things every day.

Over the past couple of years my definition of beauty has expanded to include things like triumph over adversity, such as the abolition of slavery or eradication of polio, and the transformation of the human soul. Think of the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty where Walter transforms from a risk-adverse unmoored dreamer to an adventurer with depth and purpose. Or consider the transformation of a murderous persecutor to the person who would bring the good news to the Gentile world. Saul became Paul and brought the message of Jesus Christ to the non-Jews.  

I will freely admit, however, that I have never considered feet beautiful. “How beautiful on the mountain are the feet of the one who spreads good news of peace and salvation.” But of course! What could be more transforming than hearing the message that God himself, the creator of all the beauty that exists, created a pathway for our salvation. No matter what we are guilty of. 

Often in the busyness of the Christmas season we forget the why. Not intentionally or even consciously, but the thousand intruding things - shopping and the get togethers and the tyranny of the urgent - conspire to relegate the greatest gift ever to the back corner of our brain.

We can change that. A genuine smile, a warm embrace, a lingering conversation even though the next is calling loudly. These things are beautiful feet spreading the good news of salvation on the mountain. Be present. Be intentional. Be kind, even if things are not  going your way.

Beauty matters.

Lord God in heaven,
You are the author of beauty. You authored our salvation. Allow our feet to be beautiful in this season and beyond as we spread the good news of your peace and salvation and proclaim “Our God reigns!”
Amen

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