It’s the thoughts of my wife that push me most to find an answer. It’s the softness of her soul; the creativity of her humor and the purity of her gaze. Things that I know few others will ever see. Things that contain such beauty that I think it an absolute shame that others don’t also see. Like a flower that blooms in absolute perfection that then withers without so much as entertaining one eye or a sunset of stunning colors exploding in the sky that no one beholds. Like the quiet majesty of a mountain so remote that no climber will ever touch its summit or the intricacies of the smallest snowflake that falls on a mountain side that will melt with no one taking notice. These thoughts of my wife, along with the thoughts of these other things; things that posses such beauty, push me for an answer. What is the purpose of it? What is the purpose of beauty?
As I know there is a Creator, so I believe that beauty was a created thing. So why, I now ask, was it created if it wasn’t to be enjoyed by all? After all, we have all seen beauty. At one time or another, we have all been captured by beauty, caught simply reveling in its perfection. And as beauty capture us, we try in our own way to capture it right back. A flower picked and put in a vase. A photograph taken and displayed on a wall. A song sung, or a story told that has moved us to tears and was recorded. These are all ways that we try to hold onto beauty and surround ourselves with it.
When we see things of beauty, often our first reaction is to share it with somebody else. It is the nudge at your husband’s side, or accordion of pictures each grandparent shamelessly seems to have. We assume the pinnacle of such sharing to be something that reaches the widest audience. TV, radio, books, magazines; can all be attempts to translate and transmit beauty. And in being translated and transmitted, it seems that beauty is used to endorse certain things. And in doing so; in being used or in hiring itself out, we see how beauty can become commercialized or twisted. So when did the twisting happen? And returning to the original question, what is the purpose of beauty?
Oh, the purpose of beauty IS to be enjoyed; to be reveled in; to hold captive. But what I’ve learned recently is that the central purpose of beauty is not particularly for our enjoyment. The principle reason that beauty exists is not for the created; but for the Creator. Beauty was not created for the pleasure of the widest audience, but for an audience of One. It is for Him to enjoy, to revel in and to be held captive. That we also enjoy these things simply shows; that it is in His image that we were fashioned. So the beauty of the intricate snowflake, the remote majestic mountain, the sunset and the flower, all have indeed been enjoyed as they were created to be; though not by human eyes. And in the same way, the softness of her soul, the creativity of her humor, and the purity of her gaze are also fulfilling their created purpose for her Creator. And I am truly blessed that He lets me share with Him the view; to revel in and be held captive.
“…for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Rev. 4:11
micahandmarla
