Beauty

A day spent without the sight or sound of beauty, the contemplation of mystery, or the search of truth or perfection is a poverty-stricken day; and a succession of such days is fatal to human life. --Lewis Mumford

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness; but still will keep a bower quiet for us, and a sleep full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing... --John Keats

Beauty in not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart. --Kahlil Gibran

Beauty is a form of genius -- is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts in the world like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark water of that silver shell we call the moon. --Oscar Wilde

I have been reading the book The Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis & John Eldredge. The basic premise of the book is that we have all somehow lost our heart and miss the beauty in life somewhere along the road of life. In the first chapter the authors explain how the mystery of the heart is lost in the things of the world and how living life without heart is not worth living. The authors also talk about the arrows that pierce and damage our hearts and living disconnected from the heart is something that we try to keep hidden behind our fake smiles. One of the authors describes finding his mother in the kitchen one morning crying. Despite trying to comfort her he felt the disconnect in her and in later years discovered the reason for her tears were from living a life without meaning. There was no continuity between the life she was living and her own inner self.

What does this have to do with beauty? Beauty resides deep within our hearts. I am turning 40 tomorrow and I have come to appreciate the simple beauty of the world. What defines beauty? That is in the perception of the beholder. I find beauty in the sun rise when I am out running. I found beauty in the hand of my infant children wrapped around my index finger. I find beauty in the smell of a lilac. Beauty is in the laughter of my loved ones. Beauty is in the thought of a friend who is genuinely concerned when I have had a bad day. Beauty is in the everyday accomplishments and hurdles of life. Beauty is in the smell of freshly cut grass or autumn leaves. Beauty is a beautiful scent blowing in the wind. Beauty is in the written words of poetry. Beauty is in the color of artistry. Beauty is lying in the cool grass gazing up at the stars with the one you love. I treasure each moment that I have on this earth and if I cannot see the beauty in the simple and ordinary then I have certainly missed the mark.

I know that those arrows have pierced my heart from time-to-time but if I allow my heart to harbor those disappointments then my heart becomes bitter and hardened to beauty. I think that it is not enough to just wake up in the morning and cycle through the day but to truly live and appreciate each moment we are given. If we are not living inside-out then we are only separating ourselves from the person that God truly intends us to be. C.S. Lewis wrote about passion and living life with passion:

All of the things that have every deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it [passion]—tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes, that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest—if there every came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself-you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say “Here at last is the thing I was made for.” We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, and the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends, or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we loose things, we loose all.

How is it that we allow ourselves to walk though life with a mask on? Why do we demand this of others if we are so unhappy with it ourselves? I accept people as they are and love them simply because they are alive. I have come to appreciate the differences in people and love them for who God made them to be. I have learned to overlook the minor things in life and try to gaze into their heart which is the true beauty of a person’s soul!