That which beautifies most sits among the common. If that statement is true, and I believe it is, then we tend to miss things, or at least, we see and we experience, but we don’t appreciate. If it is true, then beauty surrounds us for our world is made up of the common and the ordinary. According to its definition, beauty pleases or satisfies the senses or the mind. It gives pleasure. It suggests a delight that is evoked because our expectations or ideals are met. What is it that we miss?

Let’s go back first to creation. For six days, God’s creative genius transformed nothingness. All the contemplations of His genius from eternity past formed the framework of the world we live in as He simply spoke them into existence. The brilliance of the sun, the majesty of the mountains, the calm of the rolling hills, the lush green of vegetation, creatures of incomparable imagination – all became the surroundings of man and woman who were patterned after the creator Himself. Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! Beauty! Do we see it? Or, are we simply frustrated by the lawn that needs to be cut and manicured again, annoyed by the rain that spoiled our plans for the day, too tired and too busy to revel in the beauty of a sunset or the warmth of a sunny beach? Do we consume, use, and abuse the raw materials, the plant life, and the animal life God gave us to sustain life without a thought of the intricacies of God’s creative genius and the beauty with which He created them? Okay, Bev, now you are beginning to sound like a radical environmentalist. If so, then let’s consider the creation God made in His own image.

 

Ask a group of women what comes to mind when they hear the word, "precious" – a beauty that defies value. The response I hear with resounding frequency is a picture of a mother with her newborn infant. Beauty undenied! The beauty of the infant though becomes the beauty of our kindergartner, the beauty of our child wrapped in schoolbooks, sports, and chores, the beauty of our teenagers unfolding into adulthood – a beauty that wants to be loved, nurtured, and appreciated. The adult too that walks around our homes, and we call him, "husband," he too, is a creature of God’s beauty. Sometimes we lose that amidst our unmet expectations. Sometimes we miss it too with our aging parents or our friends.

 

The most magnificent though that sits among the common is our God. He is here. He lives among us. He indwells the believer. His beauty is unparalleled. Do we appreciate His beauty? Are we awed with a reverence that bows our heart, our will, our total being, before Him? Though He meets us in the ordinary of our lives, may we never take Him for granted or fail to appreciate the beauty of His essence.