“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Philippians 4:8

Right before Covid hit and everything shut down, I went to the California Museum last February where there was a Day of Remembrance for the 120,000 Japanese Americans who had been put in concentration camps during WWII. It was a powerful ceremony that was full of first hand accounts and memories and a call to action for something like this never to happen again. Afterwards, we were all given the opportunity to explore the art installation of the many artifacts that had been collected from that painful time and one in particular really stood out to me.

It was beautiful wood carvings of birds that a man had made on what little resources he had before him. These birds were exquisitely detailed and colorful. It touched my heart. Here this man was caged in a camp, at no fault of his own, and yet he was able to create beauty in the midst of despair. Just like a bird, he was able to sing and fly in his spirit even though metaphorically his wings were clipped. It reminds of the title of Maya Angelou’s book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Even in the midst of being caged metaphorically, spiritually and literally due to concentration camps or Covid-19 restrictions, we can still sing in defiance that at the core of our being – we are free. I love the message that Apostle Paul shared with the church community in Philippi, “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Things were hard and challenging for the community and many had to go into hiding because of their faith, but he reminded them to focus on beauty as resistance and to sleuth for joy wherever they could find it. So let’s do acts of resistance by focusing on beauty when the media wants us to focus on Covid restrictions, economic fall outs and a contentious political climate. My dear friends, beauty is all around us. Let us put our attention there.