The older I get, the more I realize how essential beauty is to a life well-lived. I’m not even talking about surface-level beauty, the kind that sells products or feeds vanity. I mean the kind of beauty that nourishes the soul; early morning sunshine through the trees, music that makes you cry, a baby’s laughter, the sacred quiet of a Sunday morning. That kind of beauty is what makes life rich and meaningful.

I’ve never been driven by money. That’s just not who I am. But the hard truth is that when you don’t have money…or even when you’re just constantly scraping by, it becomes much harder to experience beauty. Not because beauty is expensive, but because poverty or financial struggle keeps the soul in a cage.

"I wasn’t made for clocks and noise,
for traffic jams and plastic toys,
for screens that steal our light away
for years and years of grinding days.

I was made for life that's slow,
for meadows where wildflowers grow,
for nights that turn the sky to gold,
for stories that my daddy told."

When you’re locked into survival mode, your mind takes over, worry and planning and analyzing takes over. The mind becomes so focused on bills, food, deadlines, the next task, the next problem, that we lose access to our beauty seeking eyes. And the soul, the part of us that yearns for beauty, for meaning, for God-goes dormant. It falls asleep.

This world engages us on the level of fear. The economic system we’re in was not built for us in our most natural and whole state. It demands constant hustle, constant striving. It’s too expensive, too demanding, too artificial. Most people I know are bone tired. Everything is such a grind.

"My life it grips with cold demands,
with bills and debts and tired hands.
Life has taught me to live in fear,
to ignore the wonders year by year.

_{My mind takes hold, sharp and bright,
it drives me through this endless night.
While deep inside, my soul I keep
laid down her head and fell asleep.”}

We weren’t meant to live like this…chained to devices, trapped in traffic, juggling rent, insurance, groceries, all while trying to be gentlemen and gentle-ladies, genuine, good and loving people who thrive on deep connections and regular experiences of awe and grace. There’s barely any room left for anything like that.

But I don’t think poverty itself is what kills the soul. I’ve seen people who have nothing, or even less than nothing, who are sick or dying, but still marvel at the stars. I’ve read stories of beautiful moments, beautiful wisdom, even in war zones, natural disasters and the poorest places on earth. Beauty, love, grace and goodness finds a way. God finds a way!

What truly blocks us is fear; the fear of not having enough, the chronic exhaustion of just trying to keep our heads above water. That fear -or even just stress over those things, hardens us. It narrows our gaze. And it tricks us into thinking beauty is a luxury, when in fact, it’s a necessity.

"And still I know, when all is still,
my soul stirs soft against my will.
I hear the birds and knows the trees
and hear angels singing in the breeze.

So I commit each day anew,
to hear my soul, to seek what's true..
to feed my heart that’s gone unheard 
to marvel at God's every Word."

We don’t need jet setter vacations, fancy cars, or designer clothes to experience beauty. 

We need peace. 
We need time. 
We need to be freed...even briefly...
from the grind. 

Because beauty speaks to the soul, and the soul doesn’t shout. It whispers. And if we are too busy surviving, we simply can’t hear it.

Beauty is as essential to our souls as water is to our bodies, learning is to our minds, and love is to our hearts! 

This whole modern setup; it’s all kinds of wrong. The rat race is not only exhausting, it’s dehumanizing. It deadens the very part of us that makes life worth living: our souls. The world doesn’t need more efficiency or opportunities for worldly success. It needs more God. More grace. It needs more stillness. More beauty. More love and more loving connections. And more people with the courage to step out of survival mode and remember that the soul is not a machine. It was made to sing!

I pray we all find beautiful moments that make our souls sing.

God bless,

Grace Armstrong