"I had always served beauty. Davy and I together had loved beauty. Now, maybe, I was worshiping beauty in the Christian God while Davy was worshiping God. There may be danger in the love of beauty, though it seems treason to say it."
- Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy
Things are only beautiful because the Creator has made them to be beautiful. As believers it is healthy to be meticulous observers of all things beautiful: trees, stars, the sound of the early bird in the otherwise soundless mourning, poetry, art, people, food; by observing the work of the Lord we are able to praise Him for it. Yet I fear sometimes, like Sheldon admits, I often acknowledge God's hand in making something beautiful but I praise the fact that God did make it beautiful for the object's or subject's sake but not for the glory of God. For the beauty of the object/subject will fade; what once glittered will soon wither, but God is forever and He is so much more than the beauty He has crafted on earth. Lord, it is my desire that beauty would wholly lead me to the praise your name not to the praise of the beautiful things themselves, or even to the praise of the fact that you create earthly beauty, it is all useless unless it leads me to praise You, my God, in all your Glory. Spirit help me to do this.
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