Behold the Beauty

"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." (CONFUCIUS)

A single drop of dew coalescing on the tip of a summer leaf at first dawn; a dozen shades of red and orange blazing across the sky at sunset; my grandsons' eyes; my wife's heart and soul; fresh snow sparkling in the sunshine in December...

How do we know what beauty is? 
How do we recognize, from the millions of pictures, images, sculptures or sunsets which ones are filled with beauty?
I really have no answer for myself regarding this. I only know that certain things strike me as filled with beauty - they just resonate that way with me. In fact, that which I perceive as beautiful will elicit an involuntary response - wow! or ooh! Aah! or maybe deep silence and stillness. And the really strange thing about humans is that we do not all see beauty in the same experiences. Beauty, like humanity, is wonderfully simple and amazingly complex.

I suspect that beauty is built into us - a part of being made in the image of God perhaps. We understand beauty because we come from the same source as beauty; we resonate with it because it is within us. Perhaps the Psalmist sums it up:

Psalm 139:14  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

So, what do you think is beautiful? Just think back for a moment to the last time that thought to yourself, "wow! that is just beautiful!" What were you looking at, or hearing, or feeling or sensing? If it has been awhile since your soul shivered in the face of that which is beautiful then perhaps today is a good day to find beauty in your world. Look for it in this day; seek it, yearn for it, and when it surprises you, arising from the least expected place, soak it in.

By the way, don't be surprised if someone notices beauty in YOU today, because, and this is absolutely true, You Are Beautiful!

I leave the last word to Robert Browning (19th century English poet)

"If you get simple beauty and nought else, You get about the best thing God invents." (ROBERT BROWNING, Fra Lippo Lippi)

Be beautiful today

Pastor Bill

Be still
for a moment
just be
Be

Just be
and breathe
deeply out
and deeply
In

close your eyes
and
see Beauty
listen
to your
Heart beating

and hear beauty

and give
thanks
to a beautiful
God
for a beautiful
universe

and
Beautiful
Love

(First published March 28, 2012)