In the book, “Captivating,” John and Stasi Eldredge write: “Beauty is transcendent. It is our most immediate experience of the eternal. Think of what it is like to behold a gorgeous sunset or the ocean at dawn. Remember the ending of a great story. We yearn to linger, to experience it all our days. Sometimes the beauty is so deep it pierces us with longing. For what? For life as it was meant to be. Beauty reminds us of an Eden we have never known, but somehow know our hearts are created for. Beauty speaks of heaven to come, when all shall be beautiful. It haunts us with eternity. Beauty says, “There is a glory calling to you.” And if there is a glory, there is a source of glory. What great goodness could have possibly created this? What generosity gave us this to behold? Beauty draws us to GOD."
Today, I am reminded of my own encounters with beauty when upon beholding something beautiful, my physical body responds not only with exclamations of delight but with trembling, and tears, and getting weak in the knees!
I remember that time some nuns took me and a friend to a part of the Yellow River which was hidden from the rest of humanity because it was out in the middle of nowhere. We hiked for many hours up hills and across muddy river beds, and finally up a mountain. The sight that met my eyes at the top was so beautiful, I fell on my knees and wept. This was not an isolated case when I responded in tears to the sight of something beautiful. It happened again recently when I was traveling overland by bus from Dharamsala to Manali, northern India. It was an overnight bus and I woke up at daybreak, just when the sun rose over the Himalayan mountains. The sunlight revealed the mountains radiant and glowing in the distance. Something was stirred in my heart… a deep longing so that I couldn’t help the tears from falling.
I also remember the first time I passed through an awesome canyon in northwest China… I remember looking up at the sheer rock face of the towering mountains and felt such solemnity in the experience, probably similar to Moses’ experience of seeing the goodness of God pass by while he was hidden safely in a cleft of a rock.
One time, while traveling through a Tibetan area in winter time with friends, we came to a mountain pass with an awesome view of snow mountains and snow everywhere in the valley so that it was like a white out! My friend stopped the car and we all got out and I ran to the side of the road, knelt on the snow with my arms upraised and shouted at the top of my lungs, “I worship You, God!” My friends burst out laughing but later joined me in an extraordinary worship experience that we will never forget!
Back in Manali, a group of us were trekking up a mountain towards a waterfall. We couldn’t see the waterfall for a long time but we could hear the sound of rushing waters in the distance. We stopped by a place where we could catch our breath. One of our Nepalese companions was looking around and suddenly her eyes grew big and she was struck dumb. Without words, she pointed to the direction she was looking at and we all turned that way and an incredible view of water falling in torrents from a high mountain met our eyes so we together echoed two words: “WOW, God!” It was a breathtaking sight and for a long time, we stared in silence at the waterfall, each with our own thoughts… How to try to take in all that beauty in such a short time!
I have so many other stories like when I rode at the rooftop of a bus in Nepal with some friends and the Himalayan mountain range was our scenery for miles and miles and we went to this remote village on top of a mountain and in the morning you can look down at a valley covered with clouds so you have a feeling of being on top of the world!
But to what conclusion have I arrived after having experienced all these? Beauty draws us to God for all beautiful things point to him. If he created beauty, then that is his very essence and he generously created this beautiful earth for us because we need beauty to comfort, nourish, and inspire us. In this beautiful world made chaotic by sin, we can find rest not only in the beauty of nature but in the beauty of love and friendship, the trusting eyes of a child, art and poetry and the beautiful notes of a song… Let’s remember to take in daily and large doses of beauty from our beautiful, radiant, and majestic God!
