Every year, I find myself having to come to terms with the fact that Colorado really doesn’t have a springtime. Mud season? Yes. An extended winter of seemingly Narnian proportions? I believe so. March is permissibly winterish, with several feet of snow showing up late at the door. Since we don’t wish for wildfires to intrude on our summer adventures, we politely smile at the persistently accumulating snowflakes and conjure up memories of green pasture and waves of wildflowers bobbing happily under a July sun.
But then April arrives, and I simply must find a way to be warm again. Surely, I will be warm again. Summer will come. April is a struggle for me. It’s the month in which it seems the cold and wind will never cease, and all the things I kept myself entertained with all winter long are suddenly dull.
I’ve decided that April is a waiting month. A month in which one must hunt for beauty instead of passively enjoying its vibrant displays as in other seasons. I believe this hunt to be of absolute importance; it is something to commit ourselves to in our everyday.
Beauty, I believe, is necessary.
“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” - Henri Matisse
This is one of those overly-used quotations that has become cliche in our self-help-saturated culture. But I do believe that it is true. I think somehow, we’ve come to believe that if we simply open ourselves to experiencing beauty and being beautiful…..that beauty will simply come to us. It’s as if we are gods and goddesses, sitting caressed within our mirrored thrones simply waiting for the courtiers of the world - happiness, fame, likability, comfort, fulfillment, purpose, and beauty - to arrive and pay us homage.
But beauty owes us nothing. It’s purpose is to illuminate the One to whom everything is owed. It exists to delight and shock us back to truth, to our eternal reality: that this is not our home, that we are pursued, loved, and made perfectly whole by the sacrifice of our Savior….that we are children - fellow heirs - with Christ Himself. Beauty reminds us that evil doesn’t win. Darkness will not preside over us forever. Beauty is our tangible reminder that hope prevails.
In April, I pull on my muck boots and my wooly coat, and I hunt for the first flower. I know that I might not find it today. But in the hunting, I discover other treasure. The scent of pine chips thawing as the sun melts the softening mounds of snow still covering the forest floor. A bluebird perching proudly, lifting his head high. I am here! Warmth will come! he sings. The lengthening of days, the sun stretching abroad his arms, awaking. Awaking us back to life.
Beauty is there…if we take the time and exert the effort to truly look. It’s in the hunt for beauty that we learn to exercise hope…and are blessed with finding our God in unexpected and life-giving ways - the Author of the beautiful.
C.S. Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
Through the Christian lens, I believe we are gifted with the ability to not only see beauty, but to glorify God in our cultivation and earnest enjoyment of it. Often, I think we fall prey to investing in a beautiful room, a gorgeous article of fashion, or enlivening our daily routines because we tell ourselves we deserve it. And while, yes, I firmly believe that we should steward ourselves and our environments well….I also believe we are missing the point.
You are - already- beautiful. God imagined you, formed you with His own breath, crafted you within your mother’s womb, brought you forth into this world, and He finds His creation good.
I believe we were created to delight in the beautiful, to be inspired by it, to be humbled by its sheer abundance. I believe that we are blessed when we actively pay attention to what is truly beautiful. We shouldn’t merely use beauty as a means to self-medicate. We should immerse ourselves in the pursuit of it, in the attentive enjoyment of it because it is a reflection of the perfect beauty and goodness of our God.
In the slowly-warming days of a Colorado spring, I begin to lengthen my daily walks. I know I may not find the pascal flower today, and sometimes I fail to hear the voice of God I try to listen for as I tread His alpine ground. But I know that flowers will bloom. I know that Christ is there. And He is beautiful. Beauty and goodness always has…does…and always will exist.
In the waiting months, perhaps we can spend our time hunting. Hunting for the beautiful in our aching, frozen, distracted, and pain-filled world. And when we find it, perhaps we can truly relish in its presence, its brave and true existence….and praise the Author of its origin. The contours of snow-swept peaks, the crescendo of a sunset sky, the crease-lined smile of one who has known and braved the deepest pain, the perfect warmth of an apple pie, the hushed ceremony of lighting a candle, the boundless joy of a child’s laughter, and the audacity of that first spring flower….heralding the arrival of all her kin.
Spring calls to us - laughs in the face of our winter stupor - shaking us awake. It’s time to wake up. To see with new eyes. To dance, till, create, and make alive our homes, our hearts, our very souls.
So wake up. Drink in this charmed draught of earth and worship with me the One who is making all things...new.
“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful. Beauty is God’s hand-writing - a way-side sacrament; welcome it in every fair face, every fair sky, every fair flower, and thank Him for it, the fountain of all loveliness, and drink it in, simply and earnestly, with all your eyes; it is a charmed draught, a cup of blessing.” - Charles Kingsley
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Well spoken and I can envision the beauty in your writing! Thank you for the inspiration!