Beauty in the Heart of My Home

I grew up surrounded by beauty.  My father surrounded us with beauty at every turn.  We had a replica of Renoir's, Boating on the Seine hanging over our mantle.  We listened to Handel's Messiah every Advent and Christmas as we decorated the tree and baked and did all the Christmasy things around the house.  We read great literature together (The Chronicles of Narnia, The Little House Series, and The Sign of the Beaver, and the Beatrix Potter books come to mind).  We also had very strict rules about what we could NOT view or listen to.  We only had a few television channels and we often watched as a family when we did watch (think Cosby Show, Highway to Heaven, Family Ties) and every week on the way home from church we would listen to Casey Casom's top 40 countdown together in the car.  But when songs with inappropriate lyrics came on, my father would just turn off the radio for a few minutes and turn it back on for the next song.  He never said anything.  He just quietly guarded our souls by trying to expose us to things that were good, true, and beautiful and keep out things that would chip away at our sense of those things.  

I still don't know if he did it all consciously, or if he knew how deep the effects of his actions would be, but as I sit in my home raising my own crew of souls, I can tell you it made me.  Beauty, in its truest and purest sense- the raising of the heart and mind to God- is something that I am very conscious of.  And the lack of it brings me unrest.  I suppose it should be that way for all of us really, since we are all created for God, but I think not all were as blessed as I was and many don't realize their need for the truly beautiful in their life.  Many don't even know how to recognize it, because if you look around the world we live in today, its become the rarity and not the norm.  

I was blessed to spend a semester in Europe my Junior year of college.  That sealed the deal for me.  Beauty.  It was everywhere.  The cathedrals there, the buildings, the art work...it made you realize how little you were.  It humbled you. Standing before these great works of art, these massive buildings...they had something that our country lacks.  Every detail was accounted for.  No cost of time, effort, or expense was counted.  Because it was done for a higher purpose.  It was done to bring glory to God.  Not for efficiency, or cost-effectiveness, or to please others.  These great works were created for the Creator.  And it shows.  

True beauty leads us to the sacred.  It raises our souls to something higher than ourselves.  That's why art like Michaelangelo's Pieta brings us to tears. We rise above ourselves to something greater.  We feel in the depths of our being the truth about life.  That we were made for more.  And when you experience this type of beauty it pierces you.  You find yourself so filled with joy that your heart might burst, yet at the same time such sorrow because there it is a beauty that we cannot yet experience here on this earth.  It is truly of Heaven.  

Now back to reality.  My earthly home growing up was far from heavenly.  We had our fair share of hardship and sorrow, yet, somehow, being surrounded by beauty and sharing those beautiful moments in books and music, helped us to survive those hard times and to have hope for the future; hope for the peace and joy of our Heavenly home where there will be no more sorrow or pain.  And now, in my current home, with my own children, I seek out ways to fill our home and our hearts with the true, the good, and the beautiful in our daily life.  I hope that by being surrounded by truth, goodness, and beauty my children will have a sense of the sacred themselves.  That they will have a hope to carry them through the hard times of their life, and a peace that comes from being surrounded by that which is at the heart of the human soul.

"But what does that look like?" you might wonder.  Well, at our home it's several things:
1. We eat a big fancy brunch every Sunday after Mass on my husband's grandmother's china.  We set the table beautifully and eat delicious food.  This teaches them that Sunday is sacred as it is The Lord's Day, and that family is also sacred.  We take the time to create a beautiful atmosphere to enjoy each other.  I pray someday when my children are grown and have kids of their own we can continue this in some fashion together.  Or that they find a way to continue it in their own way in their own homes.  

2. We try very hard to keep clutter at bay.  When the home is cluttered, it clutters the mind.  Clutter is not a peaceful existence and without peace, it is hard to think and pray.  So we have chores that everyone helps with and an end of the day tidy to ensure always ending the day in a peaceful, clutter-free home and starting the next day with a clean and orderly home.   

3. We pray as a family both in the evening and the morning, so this just helps to foster that sense of peace and beauty....our "Prayer room" is the one fully decorated room in the home.  It's the most beautiful, and also, it's not a play room.  It's our sacred space.

4. Like my father, we also are very selective about what is watched, listened to, and even read.  We watch most tv and movies together and we read aloud a lot.  I also am very picky about illustrations.  A book with truly beautiful illustrations is very important to me.  I still have my collection of Beatrix Potter books that my dad gave to me when I was a child, and my children love them as much as I did.  Their illustrations are some of the best.  

5.  We enjoy nature together.  We are blessed to live on a pond with a forest behind it.  Hardly a meal goes by without being interrupted by a shout of, "Look, the Heron!" or, "Mom, the deer are here again!"  We spend a lot of time outside just wandering and exploring God's creation.  His artwork is the highest form of beauty.  :)

6.  We attend the Latin Mass.  While not necessary, the reverence of the Liturgy, as well as the music used, and the regular use of incense and other gestures has in its very nature a beauty that is hard to put into words.  One has to experience an Easter Vigil or Epiphany Mass to understand.  It has deepened my family's sense of the sacred profoundly.

These are the things that come to mind off the top of my head.  I am sure there are more.  And I am always seeking ways to bring more beauty into my home.  What are some ways that you live beauty in your home?  Share in the comments.  I would love to know!