Beauty

Ok, so I'll be honest...I love beautiful things. I love the mountains at dawn in October. I love milky white pearls. I love to see daddies with their kiddos. I love people's hand, no matter how worn or callused--those might even be my favorite. I love seeing people in love who aren't afraid to be fools for it. I love colorful paintings. I love gorgeous shoes. I love seeing my friends all dressed up. I love my orange scarf, compliments of Nicolette. I love seeing grown men on their knees in prayer. I love seeing mothers being mothers to their babies. I love Mozart and his Marriage of Figaro. I love hearing horses hooves on concrete, carrying them in all their majesty. I love the sight of a girl on her wedding day...and I love the groom's tears when he beholds her. I love Looking Glass, I love Black Balsam, I love Craggy Gardens, and I love the wild scent that resides there year round. I love the old hymns and the way my grandma sings them to herself.

Beautiful things capture my eye and, in some cases, rivet me for hours, seering a permanent image or a tune or an idea into my mind.

Beauty captures and frames all that is good in this world, and sometimes it is simply irresistable.

I think that we love beauty and are held by it because all that we hold as beautiful is but a taste of the Savior, and when He is beheld, He too is irresistable. It is His beauty that grace reveals, and we have no choice but to fall for it...He is just that lovely.

In Revelation 5, the Lamb of God takes the scroll to open it...the story goes like this...

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders...and He took the scroll...and when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb...and they sang...

The heavenly court beheld the beauty of the Savior and it caused them to bow before Him and sing...there was no other response. What an awesome picture of being overwhelmed by something so lovely its painful to behold. Its almost too much...and a posture of worship and humility is the only appropriate response.

I think that when people fall in love with Jesus, its because somehow they have seen His beauty and are riveted by Him.

So I guess that if you feel like your faith is failing, fix your eyes upon Jesus, like that hymn my grandma sings. Maybe she knew the secret...and she is always reminding herself...

For who can compare to the beauty of the Lord?