Beauty has the power to arrest us – to stop us in our tracks and disrupt our ordinary perception of life. We then feel simultaneously unworthy to witness such sublime realities while also feeling the need to shout from the mountaintops and share with others the significance of what we’ve experienced.
When Isaiah saw God sitting on this throne, high and lifted up, he felt undone and knew he was undeserving to witness such glory. And yet he was cleansed and sent to speak on behalf of God to his people. Profound beauty initiates a similar pattern for us as well.
First, there’s the shock of seeing. This might be noticing a particularly attractive man or woman that embodies a transcendent beauty – much beyond a rugged jawline or feminine curves. There’s something about their presence that makes us stop. This might also come through the grace of an athlete in motion, the elegance of a woman’s dress, acts of daring bravery, magnanimity in the face of hardship, the serenity of a mother with her child, or the gift of a simple smile. Whatever it looks like, it’s visceral and holistic and demands our full attention.
But, with Isaiah, we might now feel undone by beauty. We’ve been arrested by it, and now it exposes our sin and unholy thoughts. We want to become better men because God has allowed such beauty to exist in the same world we do. Perhaps we want to embody more strength ourselves. Or maybe we feel compelled to protect, honor, or cultivate beauty in the world around us.
However this is manifested, beauty has changed us. It’s not merely something we consume, but now something that calls us RISE to the occasion as we bring more life and goodness into the world. Beauty has transformed us and given us a mission.
In the end, allow yourself to be arrested by beauty in all its different forms. It’s exposing, and also healing, while calling you to RISE to make the world more beautiful yourself.
