the Beauty that makes beautiful

Several weeks ago, I read through A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis. In it, he recounts his experience of losing his wife to cancer and processes how this grief affects his faith in God. In one particular passage, I found this elegant connection between his love for this wife (H.) leading him to deeper love for God:

I see I've described H. as being like a sword. That's true as far as it goes. But utterly inadequate by itself, and misleading. I ought to have balanced it. I ought to have said, 'But also like a garden. Like a nest of gardens, wall within wall, hedge within hedge, more secret, more full of fragrant and fertile life, the further you entered.'

And then, of her, and of every created thing I praise, I should say, 'In some way, in its unique way, like Him who made it.'

Thus up from the garden to the Gardener, from the sword to the Smith. To the life-giving Life and the Beauty that makes beautiful.

This description of God - the Beauty that makes beautiful - really resonated in my heart today as I looked at these exquisite pictures of earth taken by a Japanese astronaut (Astro_Soichi) from the International Space Station.






For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Romans 1:20