![]() For some people all that matters in life is that something works. What it looks like has no bearing on it. Beauty is but a poor relation to function. I have some sympathy for such thinking - but also live for a different cause. 'You can have any colour you like, as long as its beige.' Is a oft quoted saying that amplifies the point. Function we understand - beauty, well does it really matter what it looks like. Indeed beauty itself is subjective and as they say, 'is in the eye of the beholder.' Yet beauty is all around us. God is the divine architect and the ultimate artist so little wonder if there is a yearning in the heart for more than just magnolia. Art is the language of the soul which is why we are moved by music, poetry and paintings. It's why we find expression in language that is cultivated rather than calculated. Appreciation is a gift imparted from the divine - it reminds us we are more than the culmination of our chemical parts. The Genesis story tells us that God created the world and after each day of creation he stops, looks, and concludes that what he sees is good. Goodness borne of beauty - the artisan at work. Yet its so easy for beauty to be crushed by the need to perform - to meet deadlines, to put food on the table. And in such a demanding world beauty plays second fiddle to basics - we all have to eat, after all. Fast food prevails and ready meals supply our needs but are we missing something of real value? What are we teaching our children if we don't have time to play - don't have room for art, to cultivate a life where beauty is harvested and celebrated. There is something therapeutic about plucking the strings of a guitar, of penning the thoughts of the heart, of applying the paint to a canvas. And the beauty is not in what is created but in being creative. It's in the letting go and creating time. Of letting the mind wander and letting the soul go there. There is a reason why the arts become the companions of healing a broken mind. If God was not an artist then we would bereft of colour, limited in scenery, and restricted in what our eyes can see. Beauty comes from God because God is beautiful - we see this all around us. It is true that a war is waged against this beauty and at times hate prevails and bland controls but I can't help feel that when my soul is stirred by beauty I walk a step closer to God.
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