This is post is Part One of a series. Swing by next week to read the next installment!

A Common Experience

Have you ever listened to a particular song and felt a spine-tingling delight in the perfection of the instrumentals or the lyrics?

Have you ever felt the deep emotion of nearly wanting to cry when you saw an especially brilliant sunrise or sunset?

Have you ever felt like something was speaking as the wind moved through the trees, the lake, or the grass?

Have you ever wanted to take something or someone you loved and absorb them into yourself, to somehow hold them in your soul?

Have you ever been outside when the earth was alive and fresh and wanted to stay there for eternity, just taking it all in?

I may not know much about you, reader, but I know we have two things in common:

The experience of pain and suffering.
The experience of beauty.

Many of us recognize the first, but I think we often overlook the second. Every culture on earth acknowledges the existence of beauty as a concept, displaying it in countless forms: food, music, art, literature, and even religion and philosophy. However, I am convinced that everyone, across all cultures, perceives that the beauty they experience is insufficient, and merely hints at a greater and truer reality.

We all know beauty exists- or could exist- but we need to know what beauty truly is to find it in our mundane, often painful lives. To give us a boost into the meaning of beauty, here is the Merriam-Webster definition of the word:

beauty

noun

“the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).” Synonyms: allure, attractiveness, pulchritude

(Emphasis mine)

It’s a rather abstract definition, yet it’s almost as though the ambiguity is helping us define beauty. Almost as if beauty is too deep of a concept for words to explain it thoroughly, and so ambiguity is part of what it is.

I can’t help but get excited about the dictionary’s choice of words “gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction” and “a meaningful design”. I love the sense of mystery these phrases give us. The words seem to beckon us to explore something exciting, inviting us into something special. They describe beauty in a way that makes it feel like something not to know, but to discover.

Beauty, in general, is an inviting thing. We can experience the invitation of beauty in all sorts of places:

The beauty of the woods invites us to go explore it, to find the little pinecone or leaf-treasures it holds.
The beauty of a song invites us to sing, or maybe even dance, to its rhythm.
The beauty (whether of body or soul) of another person invites us to get to know them better, to spend more time with them.

In Every Crevice

I am not the first person to notice the invitation of beauty. The works of authors such as John and Stasi Eldredge (Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul) and Timothy D. Willard (The Beauty Chasers: Recapturing the Wonder of the Divine) have greatly inspired me in discovering the meaning and significance of beauty. Yet most things I have read on the subject have been largely abstract, philosophical, or theological.

Yet a question remained in my heart: “But what about the everyday, the practical? The stuff for normal, mundane, and average people like me?”

Is there beauty in going to an average job, doing dishes, vacuuming the house? Is their loveliness in going for a walk along a busy highway lined with litter? Is their glory in any of the many unsubstantial experiences of my daily life? Where can I find beauty in these moments?

I have a hunch this overall feeling is familiar to you, reader. Don’t we all long for that “something more”, something wonderful and grand that seems just out of reach? If we hunger for it, there must be something out there that will satisfy the longing for beauty and light amidst the sin-ugly world we live in.

I believe there is something more for us. Over the next five articles, I will share my perspective on beauty what should make it important to us. We all know suffering and darkness how they often outweigh the beautiful and good. I am going to show you the beauty tucked away into every crevice of the world, and the glimpses of the Most Beautiful One who created it all.

Thank you for joining me on this little adventure. I hope you leave with your heart encouraged and your faith emboldened!