Beauty in a Word
She was nondescript in the extreme. In her 20s. Slim but not shouting the fact. Dressed in a grab bag of ordinariness. Hair suffering from benign neglect, but not ugly. No make-up on a face that was sporting healthy skin. Face in her cell phone as she walked down the aisle.
She wore her guitar as a backpack. It was pleasantly aged.
The shuffle of passengers ground to a halt while she was by my seat. I ignored the fact that she was absorbed in her phone. My spirit heard the Holy Spirit so I spoke it out, confidently.
“A musician!”
Her head snapped up, and her eyes crackled with excitement. She replied, “YES!”
She knows and I know that there are tens of millions of guitar players in the world. Not so many musicians.
And there is a small number of people – like me and like her – who appreciate the difference.
I loved the fact that truth spoken from my spirit snapped her spirit to attention, in spite of her soul and the phone and the crowd and the social impropriety of my intruding in her inner world.
The heartfelt, joyous one-syllable response, validating that she knew her essence and walked in it with dignity, was special.
Beauty in a single word.
Copyright November 2018 by Arthur Burk
Leave a comment
Comments
The Spark
By : Megan Caldecourt On November 1st 2018I LOVE this exchange. There was hardly any dialog, just your keen perception and her recognition that you were someone that KNEW. Three words were all that were exchanged because that was all that was needed. That is using language with power. One of the things I have come to realize recently is that I celebrate beauty best in a narrow spectrum. That is not wrong in itself, but it is too small. I need to learn how to see and savor the beauty in other facets of God's creation. So, your posts are like the carousel of pictures running by my spirit, and the ones that really sparkle are areas that I will push to develop more.
Truth spoken from the spirit
By : Daphne Kwan On November 1st 2018I absolutely LOVE this!
"A Single Word," and more
By : Janis Leal On November 1st 2018And the beauty of that single word just multiplies, and multiplies... in these words in themselves beautifully produced and arranged, excellently communicated, from a beautiful essence who looks and sees, acknowledges and celebrates and shares and so moves me to tears -- not because of this incident itself, or the words used to convey it, but because of the reality of one who actually, truly saw an essence and not just an outward appearance. "Essence is beautiful. Always." For believing that, for seeing that, for appreciating that, for celebrating that, for communicating that, and more: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Musician
By : Cynthia Harris On November 1st 2018Beautiful. I love that she didn't feel the need to elaborate, or build herself up, or be apologetic & self-diminishing, or convince you of anything. She knew who she was. And having someone recognize that, as you did, would be immense. An intimate moment with a complete stranger.
a single word
By : Judy Dalton On November 1st 2018Yes, I love the power of a single word to awaken the soul to engagement in the world around us. When you wrote of her response, I could almost see her face and how radiant it was that you "knew" her and who she was. Very cool.