To Have, To Behold

Are we fools who attach quickly, express fully, elaborate completely? To expose our hearts on our sleeve - is that something that should arouse feelings of shame?

Or rather, were we meant to be this way? Imagine yourself for a moment, completely stripped of all that has been taught you of social mores and acceptability, and consider the person you are at your very core. Probably the person you were as a child. What did you gravitate towards? What things did you shout at the top of your lungs? What made you cry? What did you hate? What did you dream about?

I get it, thinking and talking about these things isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. To consider the hidden places of one’s soul is a really vulnerable thing to do and not exactly a rainy day activity. As someone who is an artist, I know that full well, and also admit that even though I’m not supposed to, I avoid it all occasionally. But I have been considering the lines, the boundaries, the things that hold us back from being the people that God intended us to be. There is benefit to structure, it is a necessary thing. But we don’t make friends because of our structure, we don’t fall in love, pursue a passion, or create things as a result of our limitations alone. In spite of them, absolutely, but not because of them. We don’t choose tv shows or movies because of how "PC" they are. We don’t appreciate a sunset or like pictures on Instagram because they’re average.

C.S. Lewis said (and I deeply paraphrase) that he believes our capacity to understand and take in beauty will increase when we get to heaven. That God has placed a meaningful ceiling of what we can withstand here on earth because of our inability to handle the full scope of the beauty He is capable of showing us. That one day, we’ll be able to. I love that. What an incredible and exciting thought.

Because really, how amazing and inexplicable is it when you catch eyes with a kindred spirit who just understood the same unspoken thing at the exact moment you did? How singularly phenomenal is it when a cool breeze hits you in just the right way as you’re looking at the sun shining through the trees? When you’re caught off guard by an unplanned stillness and quiet contentment? When a character in a movie says something that hits your heart in a way you never heard expressed aloud before? All of these things are beautiful. They are glimpses of a much, much larger reality.

Human beings are filled with beauty. Yourself included. And to appreciate it is one of the gifts that we have. But the most important thing to realize, I think, is that God created this beauty. God is beauty.

So when you are tempted to shake your fist to the heavens at the outrage you feel, remember God created the laughter of a child.

When you feel hopeless, call to mind that the Lord Himself causes the sun to rise radiantly every morning and sleepily every night.

When you are angry at the way your life is unfolding, remember warm summer rains that cleanse the earth and promise a chance for re-growth and renewal.

Do these things seem incongruous? They’re not. These things are just reminders that the things we think we know are small in magnitude compared to the deep mysteries of the world and the delight that those mysteries offer us.

These small glimpses of glory offer you a second perspective as you consider that the One who created these awe-inspiring and lovely things must also be lovely and awe-inspiring.

Beautiful things imply a beautiful Creator. You are nothing short of a miracle, your life is miraculous, the things that make you come alive are intended, and your ability to acknowledge beauty in yourself, nature, and others is one of the very things that connect you to the Divine.

This is worship. Extending beyond ourselves and our grievances to behold the glory of the One who is too beautiful for us to understand, and to be grateful He whispers that beauty to us while we are yet on this earth.

If all else about walking with God eludes you, know at the very least that the appreciation of beauty is the beginning of worship. Consider the beauty that surrounds you and how intentional and planned it must truly be. Consider what Love must be behind the Author of such beauty, what consideration and compassion and mercy and grace behind His initiation of these gifts delivered specifically to you. As you process beauty, as we all are able to do, perhaps you will begin to understand. 

That is my prayer. That we might all begin to understand, and never suppress, His beauty and heart, even when we may not understand much else. That we may never quench or squander away our appreciation for the new things unfolding before us, failing to see them as the gifts from our Heavenly Father that they truly are. That we never shrug off His beauty, especially the beauty that lies within each person regardless of what shell they have become, and that we never feel shame or apologize for expressing our gratitude for it. That we never stop expressing aloud our gratitude for it at all.

May we never bow before the created thing,

But forever bow before the King.

 Gold Fireflies in Japan (click for more...amazing!)

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Oh sing to the Lord a new song;
    sing to the Lord, all the earth!
 Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
    tell of his salvation from day to day.
 Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous works among all the peoples!
 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
    he is to be feared above all gods.
 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
 Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

(Psalm 96:1-6)

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. (Psalm 139:14)

Those who look to him are radiant, 

and their faces shall never be ashamed. (Psalm 34:5)