#michel myers resplendent

[gnawgag]

well, the fire's bright and the frame's tight

micheal myers resplendent - the mountain goats // natalie niblack - ship of fools VII

[sacredcynic]

Looking Through Windows

Something happened to us yesterday and I am certain we will never forget it.  Around 5 pm we were driving east out of Yellowstone National Park at the end of the day.  We were driving along the Yellowstone River with woods on the right side of the road, and scattered trees on the left, occasionally giving glimpses of the meandering river on our left.  We came up over a rise in the road and there was a clearing on the left – a field of sagebrush and through the gap in the trees we saw what cannot be described.

    It was a window into the very mind of the Creator.  Michelle and I walked down the little slope so we could get a better angle for this incredible beauty.  After five minutes of standing alone on this slop, I heard a voice behind me exclaim, “oh, wow, how can one miss this?”  It was a gentleman from Ft. Myers, FL who noticed the same window that we did.  After another few minutes another couple followed down the slope. With a grin on their face as the muttered, “incredible, just incredible.”

      The five of us stood there for a while, soaking in the beauty. Michelle and I turned to leave, and walked back up the slope, taking time to carefully avoid the deposits left by what had obviously been a herd of buffalo earlier in the day.  When we reached the road. We stopped to look again, not wanting to leave.  As I was standing by the road I noticed something else.  I saw dozens of cars who never noticed the window.  They never stopped.  They never slowed.  They never turned to look.  From time to time all of us pass by windows that reveal the mind of God.   We would all do better if we learned to see those windows, and beauty is one of them.

As we stood and looked at this resplendent scenery, I couldn’t help but think about Psalm 19 – “The heavens declare the glory of God;    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.’

We live in a world where prominent voices will tell you there is no such thing as beauty, let alone purposeful beauty.  It is all the random, leftover splatter from a cosmic explosion billions of years ago.  Others will tell you that there is no such thing as beauty – everything is a social construct.  Such a viewpoint is tragic.  What would even be more tragic is if we believe these lies.  Well-intentioned – maybe, but lies nonetheless.  

 Perhaps surprisingly, beauty crosses cultural and societal lines.  There are certain ideals that every culture considers beautiful, and these standards can be explained.  Yet I don’t think we have to go to that length to explain beauty to anyone.  Almost every bride on their wedding day is a picture of beauty.  So is a couple on their 50th anniversary as they hold hands and tenderly kiss while family and friends applaud.  No one has to explain the beauty of those moments.  Not surprisingly these are also two prominent metaphors used to describe how God sees His people. Not only as a bride, but God pledges to remain faithful always.  These metaphors are used because they describe beauty.  Who could listen to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and be amazed by its power and beauty.  

  Culture has turned a calloused heart to beauty in recent years.  Splashed paint and scribbled lines are considered art, 50 year marriages are called oppressive, and a bride vowing fidelity is suddenly patriarchal.  We are collectively de-constructing beauty, except it is hard to see a noble purpose anywhere.  As forces seek to de-construct the good that remains, it is hard not to notice the walls that are being erected in their place.  Walls that separate us from each other, and block our experience of God. Here is the truth of the matter.  Beauty is one of those windows that allows us to see and experience God.  Beauty awes us, and forces us to consider something more noble and purer than ourselves.  Beauty breaks through the routine and whispers to us that there is a larger purpose here.  

 Here is another truth.  There are no walls that humanity can build that God will not find a way to punch through with a window.  Windows are around us if we will only take time to notice.  There was a day many centuries ago when all the wall building in the world came together in erecting a Roman cross.  It seemed that every wall was complete, but on a Sunday morning a window was created for all to see.  It was the first moment of a new beauty that is changing a world. Look around, some might be close than you think.