Beauty in the faces

Beauty in the faces

by Joel Howard

I see beauty in the faces

Beauty in these places

Where before I judged

And was blinded by my own lenses

Was once blinded by my own perception

I once saw my family

As a hindrance to being me

I once saw passers by

As obstacles to my own life

I once saw the homeless man

The overweight man

The confused man

As more reasons to doubt who I am

I once saw friends as ones

To compare myself to

Instead of in them seeing

The beauty in You

Before I judge the world

Let me love the world

Before I hate the world

Before I degrade the world

Before I glance past

My brothers and sisters

Let me stoop to know

Their need

Open my palms to feed them

Know that I am just like them

Know that I am sent to them

Know that it is I who need them

My brothers, my brothers

My sisters, my sisters

Old and babes

Sorrowful or well

Let me know them

And know them well

Slow me down, 

Father in heaven

To see that I am with them

In this world as them

So You became one of us

Let me see Your beauty 

among us