Beauty

Call me crazy. But tonight I've been reveling in beauty.

Sheer beauty. Like no one on this earth can fully capture. Not even my highly-powered and efficient Nikon D7000. And I tried.

Standing outside, the chirp, whistle, hum and sing-song melody of a thousand and one insects ringing in perfect harmony through the still night, I just stood. The camera held idly in my hands, I stared up. No use--I'd tried to capture it, and the screen came out dark. I just wanted to revel in what I saw.

What did I see?

A night sky filled with millions upon millions of twinkling stars, glittering jewels of the highest purity and unattainability scattered on black velvet; blinking like pinpricks of light shining through a dense canvass of deep blue.

A half moon, glowing with such ferocity as to lighten the landscape, illuminate the stars, my upturned face, the driveway, and the banana trees: a pendulum suspend in the heavens casting its rich glow to the earth's sleeping face.

Tree trunks standing out like dark sentinels, silhouetted by the resplendent moon. Banana leaves, blades of grass, vines, branches--everything green now a shimmering silver, a deepening shadow. Light so bright I walked down the center of a silent highway, flashlight off and unused, eyes cast heavenward.

That's what I saw.

And then, as I stood still, listening, soaking in, revelling... To my right, a streak of fire across the heavens: a shooting star. A long tail streamed out behind the brief ray of light, and then it was gone. Still, you could see the trail it made in the sky--a misty trail, as if the star had shot right through Earth's atmosphere and the fire of the comet's tail left a trail of steam. Another moment, and the trail vanished as well.


It's a silent, still night in Thailand's distant mountains.

But a beautiful one.

I'm still reveling in the beauty.

My question, though, is this: I revel in the night sky, moon's soft glow, and shooting stars... Do I revel in the beauty that is the God I serve? The beauty that is the sacrifice Almighty King of All made for me? The perfect beauty in His person, His love, His face?

Do I revel in the beauty that is being able to be the love of God to a lost world? The loveliness that is His promise to be my hands, my feet, my lips, voice, heart, eyes, mouth, and soul in this land benighted with the shadows of evil? The beauty in being an emissary of the Ruler of the Universe, the Star-kindler?

Do I revel in the beauty that is being made perfect in His time? The beauty in being freed from a prison of fears, doubts, discouragements, and darkness? The beauty in being taught lessons by the Master Teacher, of waiting, of loving, of serving, of trusting? The beauty that is Christianity in it's entirety?

My eyes fill with the sight of a lustrous moon, shimmering stars, a lit landscape...

...while my heart fills with the wonder of a God whose breath gave existence to it all...

...and the fact that that same God--the Star-kindler: He whose eyes set the stars to glowing--has called me, made me promises, loved me, died for me, and wants me. More than anyone, more than anything.

That is real beauty.