You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. – Song of Solomon 4:7, NRSVCE
We do not live merely to survive. We live to seek that which is beautiful, and if possible, to remain in it for as long as we could. Because only in finding the beautiful do we also find our true selves. We find that which we have lost, what we have been made for from the very beginning of the world.
Along the way, we have filled our hearts with other things, things like wealth or fame or worldly power. We have filled our souls with things that could never satisfy the depths of its desires.
Somewhere along the way, we remember. When we see something so beautiful it captures our very soul, we are reminded of what we really are and what we really need – we are eternal souls longing for incomparable beauty, such beauty that we can find only in God!
“Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.” – St. Augustine
“We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it… At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.” – C.S. Lewis
The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
"Where Hope Can Be Found"