An Approach to Beauty

It's easy for me to forget that we live in a beautiful world. Beauty is often crowded out by ugly cities, ugly human behavior, and the pile of dishes in my sink.

I want to see something beautiful every day. To be filled with wonder by a piece of music or a good book, shimmering light or stunning vistas.

I might say that fast-paced society can steal away the beauty of life. For beauty to unfold, sometimes there's a waiting that's required. Context is needed. Patience. 

Sometimes it takes childlike spontaneity and openness. My son looked out the window of an airplane recently. He saw the night lights of the town below and said, "Look Mommy. It's so beautiful". Why do young children bring so much joy to life? It's their innocence, their simple experience of beautiful things that reminds us of what all we forgot in the process of growing up.

Other times intentionality is necessary. Especially for us crustier sorts, we people who've been dulled by the daily rat race or disappointments of life. We can be intentional about looking for those glimpses of beauty. We don't always have the luxury of sitting on the beach or in a vast evergreen forest. But can we find the beauty in a tree? A leaf?

We may live in the ugliest of cities or be confined indoors. Then we can pick up a good book or stream some tunes. One well-written sentence or piece of music can bring tears to your eyes. That's what I want, to see those glimpses of beauty!

How are you intentional about finding beauty in life? Is this something you can do daily? How can we teach our children, nieces/nephews, even our artisans' children that the world really is a beautiful place? And why do you think there's a picture of a monkey with this blog post??


Photo credit: Sylvia King