Day 4: Cleanliness Is Next To Beauty

"Cleanliness is next to Godliness", the saying goes. I have learned (especially today) that it is next to beauty, too.  I would even go so far as to say that you cannot have beauty without some cleanliness - and the dirtier and messier things are, the uglier they get.  I moved into a flat today in which the fridge had been turned off with many things left inside it and the freezer.  There was a slight smell in the front room, but when I opened the fridge...I am not going to describe it to you, because it was that bad.  Suffice to say I don't think I've ever smelled anything worse.  My powers of description are too good, and I don't want you giving up on this post before you've finished reading it.  Believe me, beauty is coming, and how I thank God for it.

I'm learning that there is a great connection between rest and beauty.  In order to truly rest, I need beauty.  Or at the very least, things must be clean.  And today I've learned that cleanliness is beauty, and leads to rest.  I'm not talking about a few things scattered about here and there, some dust, piles of clothes or chairs or DVD's.  I'm talking about things that should never have been left out, or left in, and the decaying sense of time turning them from things of beauty into horrible, horrible things.  If there was ever an argument for the fall of man, and that fall affecting the world we live in, it was this fridge today.  So I found myself unable to sit, or read, or write, or go for a walk, or lie out in the sun, or do anything today until that fridge was clean and cooling down, the bed was made with clean sheets, the bathroom was tidied, and the porch cleaned off.  And this is because we need beauty.  Perhaps me more than others.  There are some who could simply set down their things and make the best of it, go out for a nice meal, a walk on the beach.  But my joy in the beauty around me is diminished when my senses and my soul are constantly attacked by a lack of beauty, by an ugliness that swarms over and embraces everything into itself.  I'm extremely sensitive to ugliness, to dirtiness, to harsh noises.  A friend of mine once pointed out that when something or someone is incredibly loud or shrill, I wince noticeably even if no one else does.  I was standing next to someone once who put a whistle in his mouth and blew at the top of his lungs.  I was literally shaking and crying for a few minutes afterwards.  Part of that could be the health issues I have had...my sensibilities are extreme, and my body and nerves particularly alert to harshness.  But I think it goes together, too, with my desire to see and share beauty in my life.

Tonight things are looking a little better.  I keep trying random variations on the buttons on the front of the fridge, hoping that suddenly it will start to cool down and act like a fridge again.  If not, we'll get someone in to fix it and that will be that.  I was reminded today that some of my greatest frustrations come with a change in expectations.  I expected to come to Cyprus, get let into the flat, sort myself out with food and maybe a little cleaning, and go on my merry way with my holiday.  Two days, seventeen difficult conversations, a locksmith, a fridge that could be a horror film all on its own, and a full day of cleaning later, I'm still hopeful.  After all, the locksmith did turn up. And sorted the door.  And I've learned a great deal about Samsung 721 EX fridges.  And the sunset was still beautiful, and my chicken kebab out of this world, and I am not homeless on the seafront, and as Scarlett O'Hara would say, 'Tomorrow is another day'. 

Bring on the beauty!