Why We Must Create Beauty

With record inflation, natural disasters and severe political divide in our world, do small deposits of beauty make an impact? Is beauty a frivolous nicety to put aside while we focus on the serious problems?    

Beauty is more crucial in our lives now than ever. It can’t take away the stressful burdens people bear, but it can bring a bit of peace and calm.   

If beauty is important, how can we create it for folks around us to enjoy?  

There is a small neighborhood I often pass through with little houses lined up in a row. Many are unsightly. The other day my eyes landed on a manicured yard with nicely shaped bordered areas showing off colorful flowers. A grin came to my face. There was a visceral reaction in my body— I let out a relaxing sigh. Have you ever had a similar feeling when your eyes pause on a beautiful scene? 

When you see something that awakens your senses and causes you to smile, take note. Is it beauty? 

Beside the pretty yard was a house surrounded by weeds, unkempt shrubs, and strewn junk. Suddenly a thought came to me: beauty is a choice. It seemed, someone had chosen beauty while the other person hadn’t. A few lovely impatiens in early summer would have multiplied into many colorful blooms and would’ve cost next to nothing. With a little watering, trimming and weeding, one yard could be as attractive as the other. A small yard in a little community can be a spot of rest and joy for eyes and hearts; an offering of beauty. 

Beauty is a choice.

I thought about the messy yard. Maybe the residents are living there temporarily. Maybe, like me, they’re thinking more about their future home, and failing to create beauty where they live now. It dawned on me that I’ve been biding my time in our current home, dreaming of another place. Why not embrace my present situation and make beauty now? 

We merged two households when we moved from South Carolina back to North Carolina. We’ve given away and stored a lot of stuff, but because our things became jumbled, I’m also jumbled. We won’t be here very long, I tell myself; I’ll get organized later. It’s a copout and I know it. I came from our orderly life-giving home in Columbia to an intermediary home and I’m full of excuses. 

The Lord reminded me to be faithful in small things before bigger responsibilities come. 

The little house with flowers inspired me. 

Our bodies, minds and hearts need the pleasure beauty brings. 

Pleasure in:  

A stranger’s smile.

Mockingbird symphonies. 

Mushrooms of many colors.

Layers of blue ridge mountains.

An inviting home that draws you in. 

Lively conversations around a table.

A curly-blond two-year-old little girl.

Clapping ocean waves and white caps. 

A kind offer for a steaming cup of coffee.

Sunsets rich with pinks, blues and yellows. 

A well-prepared meal with fresh ingredients.

A clean dining table with fresh flowers, ready for dinner.

Home interiors with warm complementary color and pattern.

Yellow butterflies flitting on their perpetual course past our porch.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Margaret Wolff Hungerford.

I know this idiom is true. My husband calls me “Beautiful.” What a wonder.

God created a wonderful world. The first humans lived in the Garden of Eden. They believed they were smarter than God and the purity of paradise was lost and mixed with sin.    

Our world is beautiful and broken. We travel far to see oceans, waterfalls, lakes and rivers. When the water is contained, we stand in awe of its beauty. Uncontained, the same water becomes our enemy. The world is truly beautiful, but also unsafe. The nature we admire most can also be dangerous. Beauty and horror in one universe. 

Thanks be to God. He sent His son to enable us to navigate the darkness and to help each other. 

One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in his temple. For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in his dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.

Psalm 27:4-5, NIV

There is more than enough tragedy and suffering. We must use our abilities and gifts to offset the bad things. Beauty brings life. We are life-givers. He created us to bring beauty to the people around us. 

What action can you take today to create beauty in your home and community? 

Invite a neighbor over for a tasty meal or cup of tea? Donate canned goods to a food drive? Pray for a stranger?

Speak encouraging words to the ones you love most, thanking them for the gifts they are to you. 

Let’s insert into our world the pretty, the brave, and the colorful. 

Let’s fill our heads with beauty. Share photos of the Aurora Borealis, the sunsets, and oceans!  We can’t do away with all the evil but we can mix good with it. 

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning no more, crying no more, pain no more, For the first things have gone away.

Revelation 21:4, The Voice