Fostered Beauty

Posted by J on Jan 2, 2013 in J Posts | 2 comments

BEAUTY has been a wonderfully constant companion on this trip. There was profound beauty in these places in Iceland, for example. Body-calming beauty. Severe beauty.

We have just spent the last ten days in Turkey being FED by beauty of an entirely different degree.

It began in the evening of December 22 on the 13th floor of an apartment building. There, as our elevator door opened, J Bultema introduced himself … and invited us in to his home, his family, their life, and — in the end — their hearts.

Their friends became our friends. Their church home became our church home. Their worship became our worship. Their concerns became our concerns. Their home became our home. J and R became “Uncle” and “Aunt.” Our boys laughed with their girls. We gathered for breakfast. We gathered for dinner. Everything they offered us was given freely, so generously, so gladly.

And all of it — beauty … well-fostered beauty, well-cultivated, honest beauty extended in real fellowship that took our breath away. It was beauty that was — and remains — food for the soul.

Our visit with our new family ended as it began: in the elevator on the 13th floor of their apartment building. Just a few hours ago, J was at the same elevator door saying goodbye.

We’ve been remembering our fellowship with them most of the day today, mourning its passing in some ways. Our long drive was brightened by more of their beauty in the form of two (awesome) music CDs created by their daughters, T and AK.

When the second CD was finished, I started a sentence in the then-quiet car: “After all our time with the Bultemas, I was just reflecting ….”

One of our boys interrupted from the back seat: “That we should have stayed.”

Our journey moves on. And I’m thankful that so much of the Bultemas — their beauty — is still with us.