How often do we take beauty for granted? By purely secular standards it seems that a major standard of the beautiful is measured by physical appearance. "Beautiful" people, men and women, are celebrated by Hollywood in movies, at the Oscars, in magazines. Regardless of their personal lives, if they are beauty and wealth seems to forgive a multitude of transgressions. Sadly, many might measure their lives by these shallow standards. While keeping oneself in good health and looking acceptable is great, something more must be at work and be present in order to reflect the beauty God has created.
A heart of conversion for God only knows ultimately what the human heart contains. But one of God's greatest gifts, and a surefire way we can be certain he exists, is to gaze at his physical creation; the world in which we live. Beyond our planet earth is wonder and beauty. Remember the astronauts commentary as they gazed back at the earth from the moon for example. Their commentary on the countless stars they could see.
Pictured below are two photos I took the other day, on my day off, as I traveled northwest from here to visit Canon Beach, Oregon and the Pacific coastline from there south viewed along famed Hwy 101, the coastal highway which continues south through California. We must look at this and say that it reflects something more than just random happenings. And yet, why do we say this is beautiful? We can simply look at nature and say its just a bunch of rocks and stones and trees.
A while back we had cousins from the flat lands of Chicago come out to visit and they jokingly stated: "You can't see anything there are too many mountains in the way!" I hope they were kidding but not sure. Where does the idea that something is beautiful come from? That's an abstract concept and one that is a response from the heart and mind to what we view and feel. Balance, harmony, order, color, shading all that go in to the concept of beauty still begs the question as to why we call that "beautiful" rather than just lines drawn aimlessly in a painting.
Canon Beach, Oregon
The sound of music is "beautiful." The sounds of nature are certainly beautiful. Have you ever taken a moment to just sit and listen to the wind and birds? From God such a concept comes and reflects our own creation by God as beautiful. "He called it good," as Genesis states in the story of creation. Take some time these summer months to venture out and find beautiful things wherever you might be. Pause and say a prayer of thanksgiving for this gift from our Creator whose own beauty and goodness is reflected in all he has made.
A heart of conversion for God only knows ultimately what the human heart contains. But one of God's greatest gifts, and a surefire way we can be certain he exists, is to gaze at his physical creation; the world in which we live. Beyond our planet earth is wonder and beauty. Remember the astronauts commentary as they gazed back at the earth from the moon for example. Their commentary on the countless stars they could see.
Pictured below are two photos I took the other day, on my day off, as I traveled northwest from here to visit Canon Beach, Oregon and the Pacific coastline from there south viewed along famed Hwy 101, the coastal highway which continues south through California. We must look at this and say that it reflects something more than just random happenings. And yet, why do we say this is beautiful? We can simply look at nature and say its just a bunch of rocks and stones and trees.
A while back we had cousins from the flat lands of Chicago come out to visit and they jokingly stated: "You can't see anything there are too many mountains in the way!" I hope they were kidding but not sure. Where does the idea that something is beautiful come from? That's an abstract concept and one that is a response from the heart and mind to what we view and feel. Balance, harmony, order, color, shading all that go in to the concept of beauty still begs the question as to why we call that "beautiful" rather than just lines drawn aimlessly in a painting.
The sound of music is "beautiful." The sounds of nature are certainly beautiful. Have you ever taken a moment to just sit and listen to the wind and birds? From God such a concept comes and reflects our own creation by God as beautiful. "He called it good," as Genesis states in the story of creation. Take some time these summer months to venture out and find beautiful things wherever you might be. Pause and say a prayer of thanksgiving for this gift from our Creator whose own beauty and goodness is reflected in all he has made.
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