Dear Beloved of Trinity,
Yesterday, a good friend took me on what he called a “field trip.” He sensed that I needed a break—a day set aside for quiet, reflection, and beauty. In other words, a soul-cation.
We drove about an hour and a half to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Longwood describes itself as “the living legacy of Pierre S. du Pont, bringing joy and inspiration to everyone through the beauty of nature, conservation, and learning.” In their vision statement, they declare: “We envision a world where beauty is accessible to all.”
The Irish poet and theologian John O’Donohue once wrote, “Beauty isn’t all about just nice loveliness. Beauty is about more rounded, substantial becoming. I think beauty, in that sense, is about an emerging fullness, a greater sense of grace and elegance, a deeper sense of depth, and also a kind of homecoming for the enriched memory of your unfolding life.” O’Donohue insisted that beauty is a human calling.
We are meant to live our lives embraced and animated, challenged and healed, inspired and sustained by beauty. Beauty is all around us, yet so often we fail to recognize it. Our world offers cheap imitations—quick dopamine hits that fire in our brains—and we mistake these fleeting sensations for beauty itself.
God, with great intention, infused all of creation with beauty, knowing it would help to sustain and heal us, revive and inspire us. To remind us of this sacred truth, I share with you the iconic hymn “For the Beauty of the Earth.”
For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies.
Christ, our Lord, to you we raise
this, our hymn of grateful praise.
For the wonder of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower,
sun and moon and stars of light.
Christ, our Lord, to you we raise
this, our hymn of grateful praise.
For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above,
for all gentle thoughts and mild.
Christ, our Lord, to you we raise
this, our hymn of grateful praise.
For yourself, best gift divine,
to the world so freely given,
agent of God’s grand design:
peace on earth and joy in heaven.
Christ, our Lord, to you we raise
this, our hymn of grateful praise.
May the beauty of God—and of God’s creation—bless you this day.
Peace and Blessings,
Paul+