Beauty. What is the first thing to enter your mind when you hear that word?
I was reading a book recently in which the author made several thought-provoking points about beauty. He posited that beauty is a necessary part of life and described it as transcendent – it stirs up within us a longing for something we have never experienced but don’t want to live without. A longing for the way things were in their original form.
C.S. Lewis described the transcendent quality of beauty this way:
We want something else which can hardly be put into words – to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it… At present, we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of the morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendors we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.
Solomon tells us that God has set eternity in our hearts, and beauty is often a very real way of awakening a longing for that eternity.
I spent a few days out in Montana this summer, and the beauty of the mountains was at times staggering. I could have stood staring at them for hours, and days, and never grown tired of the breathtaking view. God created the world, made it very beautiful, and called it good. In a world that evaluates the goodness of something based on its functionality, perhaps we would do well to soak in the truth that nature was not created primarily for its functionality, but for its beauty. It has the ability to point us to the Beautiful One who created it, and to awaken a desire for that same beauty to be present in our lives.
What are the beautiful things in your life?
Some day, the longings will no longer exist because, as Lewis said, “we shall get in.” Until then, delight in the beauty all around you, allow it to stir up the longings, and anticipate the day when we will be united with it and live in the presence of the Creator of it all.
Wow. I can’t wait to “get it”. Simply amazing.
We, The Mullaneys (minus the girls) were just a part of a wonderful production called Song on the Wind. It is the true story of the 40 years of the early English Settlers (1600′s) who lived at peace with the Natives in Musketequid (now Concord, MA). John Eliot was known as the prophet to the Indians, he learned their language and preached the good news. David MacAdam the playwright penned the words of Waban, the first convert to Christianity, as explaining to his people “to live the life of our Creator is to walk in the path of beauty.” I had never thought about it in those terms. The words David has chosen to tell this story are nothing short of inspired by the Holy Spirit. Waban goes on to explain that none of us is able to walk the path of beauty perfectly, except, the Creator himself and only in Him are we able to walk.
The Christian life is a beautiful way to live, walking by His Grace, His Mercy and in His Strength.
:) Very encouraging! Speaking of the idea of beauty, I have been struggling with that as of late. As I am visiting Prague, which is known for it’s beauty, I am finding it sometimes hard to believe. Yes, the buildings are amazing and the insides even more so. But there is a coldness here in the culture that I am not used to, along with the hustle and bustle of a city. The buildings seem to tower in the sky and everything is scrunched together. I am learning, though, that there is truly beauty everywhere – even in a place where I find myself questioning that. I have been seeing it mostly not in the tangible parts of Prague – but in brief encounters with strangers or how God is working. A good friend just asked me, after my complaining of these things, “Alice, what is something beautiful you saw today?” And as I thought more about that, I began to look past my own anxieties and self-focus…and something as simple as finding a wonderful Gelato place that will be perfect on rainy days, away from the busy city, or a little girl dropping her small yellow flower to hold her dad’s hand and him backtracking to pick it up for her…. My ramblings are probably out of context as to what you were talking about, but NEEDLESS to say, I cannot wait to meet our Creator. What an artist He truly is.