Seeking beauty

Lately I've found myself increasingly drawn to art and beauty in various forms. I wonder if it's because, with all the reading and writing I do for my classes, I spend much of my time thinking about God rather than feeling or experiencing God. Music and art and pretty things like candles allow me to engage a different part of myself...more heart and less head, perhaps. Not that the distinction is ever that simple or complete, of course.

I also think beautiful things are a reflection of the splendor and goodness of creation, and there has to be some kind of connection to incarnation here, too, but I have yet to wrap my mind around exactly what it might be. Incarnation is inherently connected to humble, broken people, places, and things, of course. We're sure to find God in "the least of these" (Matthew 25:45) and in those places where we might not want to look for God (Isaiah 53).

But I think maybe the fact that the Word became flesh also reflects (and effects) the holiness and loveliness of the created world, so that beautiful things can tell us something about God just as seemingly undesirable and lowly things can. Psalm 96 praises the beauty of God's dwelling, and in Psalm 27 the writer asks to "behold the beauty of the Lord."

Anyway, for one reason or another, I'm yearning for beauty, even as I have to put away my own pretty things in preparation for the move. But there are much more beautiful things in the world than the decorations and pictures I packed. Over the next several days I'd like to share some of the beautiful things that have caught my attention recently, and I hope you'll chime in with some of your favorites too.