The Most Beautiful Thing in the World is in the Eye of the Beholder

"for glory and for beauty"

Exodus 28:40

So, what did you think?   Or should I say, "How many things did you think of?"

On yesterday's post, I put out a bit of a challenge.  You can find the post here.

Or, you know, scroll down.

At any rate, the challenge was to think of what you think is the most beautiful thing in the world.   So what did you decide?

Perhaps a rainbow?

Perhaps the purr of a kitty?

Maybe nature in general?

Mayhap a winning lottery ticket?

{Yeah.... I don't have a picture of that...}

Perhaps a loved one?

Peradventure* your favorite meal?

{* I do love that word.}

Maybe a mirror?

{Kidding.}

Your newborn baby?

Rain?

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a?

photo credit: botany.hawaii.edu

Okay, I'll tell you what Mr Birkett said.  And I love his answer.  Not because I think he's right.  What he thinks is beautiful is not at all what I think is beautiful, but I do see his point. 

His answer?

Calculus. 

Yup, calculus.  The branch of mathematics that deals with the finding and properties of derivatives and integrals of functions, by methods originally based on the summation of infinitesimal differences. 

I have no idea what I just said.

Clearly the man loves calculus.  I can understand that.  I love math, too.  Ask my son, 'cause he has certainly rolled his eyes a few times when I've made that statement.  But loving something doesn't necessarily mean that you see the beauty in it. 

I hope that you, like I, take that as a challenge.  Because calculus, to me, just is.  It's like finding beauty in gravity.  Or oxygen.  But we couldn't survive without those, so couldn't those be considered beautiful?

How about friendship?  Understanding?  Shared emotions?  Unconditional love? 

How about black holes?  Sand?  Baseball?  The star-nosed mole?

photo credit: nationalgeographic.com

Yeah, that one's a stretch for me...  But his mother loves him.  And maybe biologists.  And certainly his Creator.

The point is in looking at things with new eyes.  Finding appreciation and giving thanks for the world being just as it is.  Just as He created it.

~ "Give to the Lord the glory due His name;

Bring an offering,

and come before Him.

Oh worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!" ~

1 Chronicles 16:29

~

I'd like to be, under the sea...

"the sea and the things that are in it"

Revelation 10:6

I was cleaning out some old stuff in the garage the other day, and came across my water shoes.  I'm not really a water person, so they'd gotten a little bedraggled, being left in the garage for a long time without being used... dusty and a little spider-inhabited.

The last time I used them was on Maui.  We'd gone for my brother-in-law's wedding, and done some snorkeling while we were there.  I love snorkeling.  I first discovered it on Kauai, and couldn't get enough.  Fishes of all colors and descriptions, and even some turtles.  Oh, and rocks.  And coral.  So cool...

Our kids weren't very interested in it on Kauai, or on Oahu.  They were young, and it was understandably difficult for them to put up with the snorkels in their mouths.  So they played on the shore with family members while we snorkeled.

But when we were on Maui, they were a few years older, so they both gave it a shot.  I absolutely loved being able to share that experience with them.

So I picked up my water shoes the other day with a bit of a happysad sigh... happy for the memories, but slightly sad wishing we could go back to Hawaii sometime soon and because I was throwing them out ~ since they were spidery and bedraggled and maybe even had a hole in the toe.

But then, as I walked to the trashcan, I caught a whiff of saltwater.  So I held them a little closer to my nose, and sure enough, they still smelled like the ocean.  It's been three years since they were in the ocean.  But there it was. 

I want to be like that.  I want to give off the fragrance of Him to the people around me.  Even if I'm going through hard times, feeling bedraggled and spidery.  Even if I'm dry and full of holes and feeling like I'm not being used for any great purpose.  When I look at those water shoes, I think of the ocean, and the joy I found in His creations there.  When people look at me, I want them to see ~ and smell ~ and hear ~ Him.

~ "through us He diffuses 

the fragrance of His knowledge 

    in every place" ~

2 Corinthians 2:14