What is Beauty?

What is beauty? Why do we attribute something or someone as beautiful? Is beauty a subjective evaluation, or is it a timeless ideal? A few questions I’ve allowed my thoughts to linger over the past few days, and a surprising insight surfaced.

Beauty is “the combination of qualities that make something pleasing and impressive to look at, listen to, touch, smell, or taste”, Encarta Dictionary. We generally use this descriptive word with the personal physical attractiveness of a woman, but we also use it to describe music, visual arts, performance arts, architecture, food and drink, aromas, and natural features: fields of tulips, cascading waterfalls, and golden sunsets. Beauty captures and holds our attention through one or more of our senses.

Is beauty a timeless ideal, or a subjective description? Not all beauty falls in the same category. Polyester leisure suits, 80’s techno pop, and 60’s VW art, may not be as timeless as Michelangelo’s Statue of David, or Handel’s Messiah, and man’s creations seem insignificant compared to majestic mountains, vast oceans, and any one of this earth’s scenic wonders. Standing on the rocky edge of the Grand Canyon with its depth, expanse, and vibrant colors will overwhelm our senses, and we feel small in our humanity.

One verse that caught my attention is Psalms 27: 4.

”One thing I ask of the Lord,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in
the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the
beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.”

“To gaze upon the beauty of the LORD”, is the phrase to long for, to see the beauty of the Lord, in his immeasurable power, his depth of love and compassion, and his creative glory and majesty. Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon will be insignificant compared to standing at the feet of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Son, and in the presence of the awesome wonder of God our Father. That moment, an overwhelming of all our senses, will burn a lasting impression on our lives for eternity. When we will gaze upon the pure, holy, eternal, majestic glory of the Lord, we will then see true beauty.

As for us, created in the image of God, we have an intrinsic beauty that begins to surface the closer our lives reflect the nature and character of God. We can also reveal His beauty by the creative work of our hands in sensory art forms, to be pleasing and honoring to the Lord. Today, worship God with your all your heart, mind, soul and strength and let your creativity blossom in the beauty of the Lord.