How do you know when something is beautiful?
“You look so cute!”
“That’s really pretty.”
“Very nice-looking.”
“What an adorable baby!”
“That’s so lovely.”
These are all admiring, positive expressions.
In fact, most of us would be delighted if any of these were spoken about us.
Well, with the exception of “What an adorable baby.”
Of course, if that’s your thing, go ahead and enjoy it. No judgment here. We’ve all got our preferences.
(What a weirdo)
But as we put our attention on celebrating beauty this month, it’s worth some time to examine what sets beauty apart from these other similar phrases.
What’s the difference between something that’s good-looking and something that’s beautiful?
On one hand, it’s just semantics, right? Words don’t have to be exact to be interchangeable. Frankly, most of us are fairly casual with our descriptors. We’ll toss out a “that was cool” and “that was neat” after seeing a card trick we don’t understand or a concert with a unique light display.
So we could agree that the variety of words we use to describe something appealing isn’t worth picking apart.
However, to do that cheats us out of one of life’s richest gifts: the experience of beauty.
What is beauty?
Beauty isn’t a passing nod at something attractive. For instance, I’m always happy to see daffodils in early spring. They make me smile. They’re quite a chirpy little plant, aren’t they?
They’re pretty.
But to me, they don’t touch the beauty mark. Why?
Beauty stirs us on the inside.
We feel it. It captures us.
We pause when we encounter true beauty and surrender to its sure and quiet power.
Think of the last time you said “Wow, how beautiful” and meant it. What happened to you?
What happened to your body?
What did you experience?
When something is truly beautiful,
It stops us.
We wait for it.
We open up to it.
It moves us.
We appreciate it.
That’s how we know something is beautiful. Beauty is an experience.
We sense a movement from our soul’s recognition of it. You’ve heard “like goes to like?” Meaning that similar entities identify with one another and gravitate toward each other. That’s what happens when we have a beauty experience.
Our soul wakes up and says, “Beauty!? Hey, I know you!”
What does beauty look like?
Beauty can come in so many forms. It can be a symmetrical face, a landscaped garden, or present as an Asscher-cut diamond. Those are some of the typical go-tos. And for good reason, they’re nice to see.
Although, when you see beauty in its purest form, you know you’re in its presence by how it touches you.
While “pretty” is something we see, “beautiful” is something we feel. It’s an event.
When beauty leads us by its power, identifying it becomes subjective. It no longer has to fit into a cultural standard or be a strictly positive thing.
When we surrender to the experience of beauty, anything has the potential to be beautiful.
Experiencing Beauty In Brokenness
The aged hands you see as you type may give you The Beauty Experience. When you consider the depth of the story and years behind them, the people you’ve held, the accomplishments you’ve had, and so many ways that those wrinkled, useful hands have made your life more meaningful, you can experience beauty in them.
Or when you allow the pain of lost love to sit with the pleasure and fulfillment of it, you can experience beauty.
Kintsugi can be an inspiration for us here. This Japanese art form repairs broken objects and joins them together with gold.
The break is part of the beauty. Sometimes pain, acceptance, and mending are an integral part of beauty.
Beautiful Acts
Beautiful isn’t confined to products or people either.
It can become an action or a sacrifice of the self for another. Mercy, charity, and protecting others can be beautiful acts.
The Gift Of The Magi comes to mind. Each lover sells their most prized possession and uses the money to buy a special present for their partner. Such a beautiful story of giving. Both denied their own pleasure for the joy of the other in an expression of devotion to their beloved.
If beauty is seen and experienced by the soul, it can come in any form.
The Beauty Experience
Let’s break down what happens when we encounter beauty.
When We Experience Beauty, We Stop
It grabs our attention by the natural pause that comes over us.
This doesn’t necessarily mean a physical stop. Sometimes beauty is on the move. I’ve driven after many sunsets trying to catch them.
The presence of beauty arrests us and captures our attention.
This can feel like a catch in your breath or maybe a quick head jerk.
There’s an involuntary stillness that overcomes us.
The stop is the first sign you’re in the presence of something beautiful. Once you have that involuntary halt, don’t dismiss it. Follow it. It’s a clue that you’re in the midst of something divine. Don’t miss it.
We Wait For It
Beauty has its own rhythm. Its pace is often slower than ours (but not always- blink and you could miss it!). Be still and watch it.
Allow it to unfold in its own timing.
No rushing, no shaping it. No forcing it to squeeze into our perception of timely or appropriate. Just patiently let her move in her own timing and she will reveal herself freely.
Experiencing Beauty Opens Us Up
Painful, appreciative, or joyful, whatever feelings come up, we’re connected and present when we witness beauty.
There’s no criticizing it or manipulating it.
We just allow it to be as it is.
Openly, without judgment, we allow ourselves to accept what is, not what we think it should beb
We Are Moved When We Experience Beauty
I find beauty to be immensely spiritual. In fact, it’s one of my favorite ways to see God and feel His presence. I see His creativity in his gorgeous nature. I see His love in acts of compassion.
It inspires me to live fully, travel and see more of it, and to create my own beauty to give to others.
Beauty connects us.
We Appreciate It
Experiencing beauty is so engrossing because nearly everything that happens to us is reflexive.
We are naturally stopped by it, wait for it, open up to it, are moved by it, and appreciate it. Unlike so many other things in life, I’m instinctively grateful to witness beauty. Aren’t you? How easily a “Wow!” can slip out when we’re in its presence. There’s not much else like that.
Celebrating Beauty Brings Joy To Our Lives
When we equate beauty with something that’s simply pretty to look at, we scrimp on one of God’s greatest gifts to us.
Let it capture you. Surrender to it. Be moved by it. And treasure it.
All content May 2024: https://makeitjoy.com/monthlytheme
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