In Praise of Beauty

Have you noticed that so much of our 21st-century world is ugly?

We haven't followed the 1960's science fiction predictions that everything would be gray, symmetrical, and practical (yet), but even so, the appreciation of simple beauty is sadly lacking in our modern society. Look around us: cars, wires, computers, cameras, phones ... the cities are dirty and full of crime ... the clothes that are popular are all sassy, flirty, tight, short, baggy, shapeless, superfluous, or overdone, never simply beautiful ... the radios pump out acidic metal music with angry lyrics ... love affairs are short, painful, and full of childish insults and excuses for leaving.

Modern life in America can be so ugly. Sometimes, I like to think about some of the things in life that are as beautiful today as they have been for generations.

Like the powerful beauty of a pure, godly woman. Think about what that looks like - not a woman who is so passive and submissive that she has no force or power, but a woman who is beautiful in her strength. A woman who courageously embraces purity, virtue, holiness, and femininity and actively makes them part of her life. A woman who is gentle and nurturing, yet unwavering and unyielding in her faith and her convictions - a woman who does not let the world tell her how to look or how to act, but is strong in her beauty because she knows that she was created by and for the glory of God.

Like true love - love that is not made to last for a spring break fling, or a semester-long time-filler; but love that is meant to last for a lifetime. Love that not only embraces the times of laughter and joy and companionship, but the times of sickness, the times of poverty, the times of conflict and misunderstanding. Love that is so strong and abundant that it reaches out to welcome the beautiful responsibility of children into a marriage, and doesn't cut off blessings by only thinking of teenager-like fun and excitement. Love that carries on even as the years fall away - love that follows both hearts into the grave, yet continues to grow as a sheltering plant that blesses generations to come.

Like the beauty of nature, from the wild, violent expanses of the oceans to the gentle green plains of the prairies. The things that man makes are so uniform, just variations on the same themes over and over - but the things that God has created are infinite in their variety, their colors and shapes and sounds and smells. Nature is always fresh, always changing and growing, full of the beautiful things that our technology-saturated souls crave. Nowhere can we truly understand the richness and creative joy of our Lord until we let Him lead us through the beauty He has created.



Like good books that expand our minds to depths beyond the stale Twitter feeds of our daily existence. Old, dusty books with hand-woven fabric covers and fragile brown pages that still remind us in their gently archaic language of faith, conviction, standing up for what is right and accepting our places as men or women in God's plan ... or even lavishly illustrated reprints, offering sacred places to rest in worlds that still believe men are men, women are women, and every Christian has a mission to touch and change the world.



Why do we spend so much time thinking about what is ugly? Crime, sin, confusion, heartache, weakness, and strife? Why don't we sometimes follow Philippians 4:8 and think about the things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy? The world is still a beautiful place if we will only open our eyes to see it!

Love,
Vicki