Art Appreciation

When I was a kid, I always hated tomatoes.
Texture.  Flavor.  Gross.

One day, when I was a teen, I was reading in a food magazine about tomatoes.

I read that for most people it is an acquired taste.

A tomato is something that can grow on you, like coffee or wine.

I decided then that I would try to learn the love of tomatoes.

For my first lesson, I went down to the farmer's market & bought a tomato.

I sliced it up, salted & peppered it.

I think I had this friend with me for encouragement.  She had good taste in food.

I ate it.

And, I loved it.

Lesson learned.

I still love them.

 Really, there were a lot of other things I disliked as a kid.

I was proud to have very specific tastes.
Like, somehow it made me really special to hate so many things.
I only thought dark brown hair was attractive (some self love there?).
I only liked a few flowers.  The rest were kind of "ugly".

And then, I guess I started to grow up a little bit.
Really?  A lily is ugly?

Maybe it was my (sinful) pride,
declaring a good portion of God's creation as not good enough for me.
It would glorify God to appreciate His handy work,
and it would bring me more enjoyment, too.

You know what?
Once I started looking to see what was beautiful,
instead of what was faulty, it wasn't that hard to appreciate more things.
I love seeing so much beauty.
It is everywhere.
There is nothing wrong with acquiring a taste for something (or someone).
Sometimes we just have to let go of our pride.

Maybe that means learning to get along with someone
who really grates on you
(& it seems so hard to see the good).
Maybe it means learning to be attracted to someone who looks different.
(That could include adopting a child who looks different
than you may have imagined your child would look.)
Or it may mean just embracing where God has you right now with contentment,
while you learn to see the beauty in it.

Have you ever seen attraction grow?
What have learned to see beauty in?