Beauty

(One of my favorite pictures from my semester in the Middle East: a friend captured a picture of my silhoette against the sunset while I was standing on the edge of the Sahara Desert in Western Egypt.)  
 I have developed a somewhat eclectic mix of aesthetic values.  I like watching strange movies like The Fountain as well as popular films like The Lord of the Rings.  I enjoy the music of Enya, Damien Rice, Charles Wesley (his hymns), Nat King Cole, and David Crowder.  I love visiting the Art Institute in Chicago! (...and am looking forward to another visit at the end of this school-year with my family!  Their Impressionistic Gallery is astounding: Renoir is probably my favorite.)  Medieval Byzantine iconography is incredible to me, and I have an icon of Christ Pantocrator, which I purchased in a monastery gift shop in Sinai, hanging in our home.  I love beautiful landscapes, and have greatly enjoyed a few outings into the Western United States, where I have visited and hiked through Yellowstone and the Grand Teton mountain range.  Not only the "Wild West," but even a walk through the local park district here in Bourbonnais is often full of beautiful scenery and wildlife.  Even things like grammar, eloquent discourse, and a well-written novel have immense aesthetic value to me.  C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce and George MacDonald's Phantasties come to mind.  Even the Scriptures themselves, apart from guiding me into theological truth, have an unparalleled beauty, in my eyes, in the whole of the world's literature.  And, above all else, the relationships I share with my wife, my family, and my close friends are, among many other things, very beautiful to me. 

Beauty is everywhere, for, as the hymn writer has put it, "this is my Father's world."

I truly believe that God has demonstrated his love for us, not only in sending his Son and his Spirit, but in leaving his mark in absolutely everything that is.  Creation entails all that exists, and all that truly exists--all that truly is--has a measure of beauty in it because it derives its very existence from the Father of Heavenly Lights.  Take time today to appreciate the beauty around you, even right next to you, even within you!  Beauty is not an autonomous entity; it is a derivative of the Creator God.  Let this blog post be nothing more than encouragement from me to you to locate the beauty you encounter today, and give thanks to the God who has granted that beauty should be a part of this, "my Father's world."