The idea of beauty has been central to my life the last few years. I have continually gotten the message that I need more beauty in my life, that I need to create more beauty, that I need to appreciate beauty more.
I’ve thought about this for many hours, and written thousands of words about it – some of them here. Still, the answer did not come to me.
Then a few months ago I was interviewing my friend, Jesse, for a magazine article I was writing. He’s very involved with his church and we were discussing the stained glass windows and other beautiful parts of the church. Then he said something that crystalized part of the puzzle for me. “The sheer force of beauty itself is a vehicle for the divine.”
Interestingly enough, his comments ended up not being used in the article, so it could be argued that interview was really just for me. So Jesse could say this to me in a context we wouldn’t have otherwise been in.
We have so many examples of beauty is in the eye of the beholder. One of the things I find beautiful is handwriting, and I’m currently focusing some energy on a project to capture handwriting samples from people. (http://www.wordsbyhand.com) Then, through a totally unrelated series of events, this quote came to me:
Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.
Life circles around, it seems.
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