The Weekly Wonder: Journey of Beauty (May 6, 2024)
- Corrie Ann
- May 6, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 19, 2025
"All that is gold does not glitter" (Tolkien, Lord of the Rings). True confessions: Life can be a series of deadlines, filing paperwork - failing to file paperwork - making payments - failing to make payments - taking children here and there - folding the next load of laundry for the millionth time - scrambling to keep our heads above water, sort of. Life can definitely be a grind. But then. I take a breath and look around and stop to really look, not just see the world around me. The symmetry, or lack thereof, the beauty. The contrast between light and dark and in between causing me to look intently at the beauty inherent that tells me that in the midst of it all, God is on His throne. There is meaning in the madness. These are moments of Divine Mercy giving me respite from the storm. I am not the first to comment on this phenomenon. Humans for millenia have noticed the yin/yang unity of contrasts and variation. Confusius wrote "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it."
Photo of Aaron at a friend's ranch in south Texas.
St. Dionysios the Aeropogite (Divine Names, 4.7) articulates the oneness of Beauty, but with allowances for variety in the oneness, creating harmony.
From this Beauty comes the existence of everything,
each being exhibiting its own and way of beauty.
For Beauty is the cause of harmony, of sympathy,
and of community.
Beauty unites all things and is the source of all things.
Beauty is the great creating cause which bestirs the world
and holds all things in existence by the longing inside
them to have Beauty.
And there it is ahead of all as Goal, as the Beloved,
as the Cause toward which all things move,
since it is the longing for Beauty which actually
brings them into being.
Beauty is a model to which they conform. . .
From the One, the Good, the Beautiful
the interrelationship of all things in accordance
with capacity.
From the One, the Good, the Beautiful –
the harmony and the love which are formed
between them but which do not obliterate identity.
From the One, the Good, the Beautiful –
the innate togetherness of everything.
One element of the quote that St. Dionysios brings out is that there is space to breathe. There is not only one way of beauty. This is good for me because I have never been quite able to comfortably dress in the latest fashion or create flyers in the latest fashion or even decorate my home in the latest fashion. I always admire the work of those who can - it looks so lovely with clean lines and a perfect display. But....I just can't reach it. The "varied and strange" as Hopkins says in his poem Pied Beauty. While I have made friends with all people, my personal style is somewhat awkward...or maybe I need to embrace the essence of who I was created to be and not try to copy what looks "professional" or "proper" or . . . whatever. That whatever was uniquely created by the Creator for a unique purpose that spans time and eternity, this is Good and Beautiful for all and for the one at the same time. This is a mystery.
Photo taken in a field of wildflowers this spring.
This brings to mind Tolkien's opening from the Simarillion,
"Then Illuvatar said to them, 'Of the theme that I have declared to you, I will now that ye make in harmony a great music. And since I have kindled you with the Flame imperishable, ye shall show forth your powers in adoring this theme, each with his own thoughts and devices, if he will. But I will sit and harken that through you great Beauty has been wakened into song.' "
This song that is being played through each one of our lives is not a solo. How can there be harmony with just one voice? It is through connection with others that true Beauty can happen, whether that is through the maker of the thing or the admirer, or another role. Sometimes, harmony only comes through the struggle of friction, miscommunication, and finally - acceptance of each one's role in the grand master song.
Picture from our fireplace on a chilly night.
We are a baseball family.
In honor of it being the end of some baseball seasons and
the beginning of the other seasons, I offer this about the beauty of baseball. One person against an entire field. A ball and a bat just a few inches across determining what everyone will be doing. It is a game where you never know just what will happen. Even the batter and the players in the field have no real idea of what might happen. One inch higher or lower or to the right or to the left makes a huge difference. This game cannot be won with just one or two good players - it requires a team. There is something magical about the lights coming on, the players ready, and here we go. One runner against a field of people - yet the game is won or lost at times by inches. Yes - while I am a new fan of the game due to my son playing all the time - there is Beauty in this game.
Photo is a screenshot of a video taken at a recent T-ball game when my son was a pitcher.
Of course I would be remiss if I did not also include the poem Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins in this quest of searching for Beauty in the midst of the everyday rhythm of life and work and exploring the creation around us.
Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
The wonder of it all is that there can be moments of beauty even in the midst of the whirlwind of laundry, dishes, bills, paperwork, and all of the rest. If we can only stop, look, taste, and listen to what the universe is showing us in the moment. Perhaps, it is sometimes easier to find beauty in trades that have traditionally be done with human hands instead of an electronic screen. The daily work done such as woodworking, farming, sewing, blacksmithing, cooking, etc. has a beautiful quality about it that is lifegiving even as it takes every ounce of energy and care. I wonder if this is why so many people are once again leaving behind the screen and taking up a needle and thread to bring them a moment of joy; trading in a joystick for a sander; swapping binge watching for candle making; exchanging ordering takeout for growing and canning their own food. . . makes one wonder.
Photo was taken in a parking lot as a beautiful butterfly landed on an F150 truck.
What is this Beauty that is seen, and perhaps remains unseen? That, my friends, is the gold. . . Beauty is the most golden of all. Life can be a series of deadlines and the daily grind, but the golden pursuit of Beauty shines meaning into the madness. As the great writer Dostoyevsky says, "Beauty will save the world."
Savor Beauty this week! Corrie Mitchell
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