New Series: Finding Beautiful, Part 1.

What if it's possible for two people to go through life and have exactly the the same experiences, acquire all the same information, endure all the same circumstances...and what if they still had entirely different views? One, a die-hard, negative cynic. The other, full of life. In various places in the Bible we find that the key difference between someone who really lives, and one who doesn't, will be their ability to spot and embrace beauty. True beauty.

Use this study to help your group members be people who are tuned into life enough to locate the Kingdom seeping through the cracks, and to live and celebrate the best life possible before any external circumstances change.

Thaw

• What's one thing you learned (or were reminded of) about life over the summer?
• As 2010 is better than half way over, what's something you think 2010 will remembered for?
• What's the difference between the positive answers and the negative answers?

• What's something that stick with you from the message Sunday?

Read

• Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
• Thoughts?

(Let's admit, this song has already been mentioned, or crossed everybody's mind)

• How often do you consciously determine that "it is time" for new responses to life?
• How much control do we have over our response to circumstances? Explain.
• Is it naive to try and find or live out beauty in the midst difficulty? Explain.

Read

• Philippians 4:4-9
• Thoughts?
• Give examples of each of the words that Paul uses in his list.
• Give examples of the counterfeit version of what these words represent, or things we settle for.
• Why is it important to think or fixate on these kinds of things?

Read

• Philippians 1:12-14
• How does knowing Paul wrote the previous passage about rejoicing and filling our minds with beautiful things while in prison change how we hear him?

Leader note: Help the group understand that it's too simplistic to think of rejoicing as limited to those who have no challenges or obstacles to it. It's a discipline, even an act of faith, to comb through circumstances and magnify the beauty in it.

Discuss

• Some folks, in the name of spirituality, take all of this and twist it into something fake. They perform, fake a smile and stop thinking deeply about real issues, all in the name of faith and beauty. What's the difference between this person and the person Solomon and Paul are speaking of?

Apply

• What disciplines would we have to put in place to counteract habitual cynicism and a blindness to the Beautiful potential around us?

Leader note: Jonathan shares 3 disciplines; Pause and look around (keep your eyes open in nature, and in people, for goodness others might not see), share stories of beauty (we gravitate to sharing negativity and venting) and be willing to ask for help (ask others to help you see beauty and be willing to believe it)

• Who do these disciplines make you think of?
• How can this group help you grow in this area?

Leader note: You may want to step into this boldly- and create an accountability for certain members who seem to have complaining down to a science, while beauty spotting and positive perspectives elude them. This is a great opportunity to bring that up and ask how the group can help mature in the principle of Philippians 4. This isn't to create a plastic way of sharing negativity in a positive way, but to actually begin searching out goodness with as much habitual zeal as negativity.