#header-inner img {margin: 0 auto !important;}

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Beauty: A Craving of the Soul

"Something of God...flows into us from the blue of the sky, the taste of honey, the delicious embrace of water whether cold or hot, and even from sleep itself."
~C. S. Lewis


Step onto the leaf-littered ground and listen to the crackling beneath your feet. Lift your face toward the beaming sun and savor the warmth of its golden glow. Close your eyes and tune your ears to the whispering of the November breeze. Do it deliberately. Determine to capture the day's magic, its divine enchantment, the presence of Almighty God.
"God is present in all the moments, but I do not deify the wind in the pines, the snow falling on hemlocks, the moon over harvested wheat. Pantheism, seeing the natural world as divine, is a very different thing than seeing divine God present in all things."
~Ann Voskamp, from One Thousand Gifts
The soul craves beauty. A breathtaking sunrise; a fog-enshrouded lake; a tiny wide-eyed baby; wildflowers of deep violet, beaming yellow, and twinkling blue; the appearance of the first star each night, sunlight painted on the floor from an open window; the dancing flames of a campfire in autumn...All these wonders are graciously bestowed on us by our Father in Heaven.
Some beauty is not often recognized as loveliness; it is cast aside as insignificant. But it is just as awe-inspiring as the tallest snow-capped mountain or the daintiest pearl-pink rose. This beauty unfolds to us in the form of well-worn, gnarled hands--hands that have served the Father in years of service to others; a shattered bottle of expensive perfume--perfume poured out at the feet of the Master; crutches in the hands of the wounded--wounded in obedience to duty to God and country; a crude wooden manger in Bethlehem...And this beauty appears in one Man's rough, nail-scarred hands, in His tear-streaked face, in His dirt-stained, weary feet, and in the very shadow of His presence. 
"The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing to find the place where all the beauty came from." ~C. S. Lewis

I, like C. S. Lewis, long to find the place where all the beauty came from. Whenever I wonder and whenever I doubt, all I must do is gaze upward. HE is there. HE is where all the beauty came from. HE is beauty defined.

"He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the waters in His thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them. He covers the face of the full moon and spreads over it His cloud...Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?"
~Job 26: 7-9, 14

*These pictures were taken on a walk near our house--how very blessed I am to experience such glory in my own backyard! Do we not all experience beauty daily for which we fail to thank God? Let us thank Him today for His presence and His power!*

5 comments:

Jessica said...

Oh Emily, I just read that part of Ann Voskamp's book today! Wow, how neat that you wrote your post just today?!

Emily said...

That really is amazing!!! Wow :) What do you think of the book so far? :)

vtyler98 said...

Wow such a wonderful post, thank you for sharing this. I like the way you put pictures in it to really convey the beauty of God's creation and how amazing He is!

Pam... said...

What an awesome woman of God you are. What a lovely and artistic blog. God will do much with such a heart for Him. Keep looking up.

Emily said...

Thank you, everything is by His grace!