Beauty Overcomes

My back hurts. Where is the sunlight? The kids are noisy. I’m tired. Eyes feel heavy. My, I am full of complaints today!

I step out my door and see a fall collage of deep orange and russet and scarlet, cast onto a paving stone as if arranged by an artist. The beauty of it penetrates the dark blanket of my mood. If just for a moment, I am captured and brought higher. 

If you have ever been captured by a symphony, a painting, a film, an autumn scene, or the shape of a person’s face, you know that beauty has power. It can take us out of ourselves, save us from our petty grievances, put our souls at rest, inspire us to become something great.

From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. (Psalm 50:2) The reason that beauty has such power is that it is spiritual in nature. It reflects God. The reason we crave it is that we are also spiritual in nature. The soul perceives itself in beauty. Can we verify the existence of the spiritual by means of beauty? 

Call my soul forth with your beauty, O God. Amen.