Beauty dwells in the ordinary, waiting to be noticed. On my way to work, the sun rises at my back thawing the purple, frost-bound trees. Along the sides of the highway, the reeds ripple in the wind, their fronds wagging like a golden retriever’s tail. A flock of birds rise into the sky, swirling together as if they are all breathing the same breath, flapping the same wings.

This road, which I drive every day, is beautiful. As it crosses over the bay, I get a glimpse of the steely blue water stretching toward the lake. Some days there are sail boats and ships, but these days only the buoys disturb the water. The sheer, sloping cliffs are covered with trees, some of them still clinging to their rusty leaves. They welcome me in and the bay disappears behind me. 

Even the signs which tell all the cars which lane to be in, with their block lettering and neon colors, hold symmetry and a stark beauty. The road splits, curving away from its other half, only to come to a perfect kiss with a new road which brings commuters from the south. As I get out of my car, the sky is glowing pink. The birds welcome me with their song and I have arrived. 

When asked the question, “What can we do about the future?” spiritual teacher Dr. David R. Hawkins replied, “You can be devoted to all that is sacred. Be devoted to beauty.”

Be devoted to beauty. This simple message has been echoing through my mind this month as I do the mundane things that must be done. To be devoted to beauty is to look for it everywhere and to rejoice when it is found. But the more I look, the more I find it. It is more difficult to find a scene without any beauty than it is to find the beauty hidden within each scene. The stop lights with their vibrant colors, the artful bare branches of the trees against a gray sky, the art in the doctor’s office– in almost everything my eyes fall on there is something to admire. 

Beauty is in the perfection of the moment, a moment which will never happen again.

Without a future and without a past, without any need for explanation, it exists. In the midst of mystery and transformation, it is a trustworthy comfort.

In his book New Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton writes, “A Tree gives glory to God by being a tree.” The tree’s very existence is its connection to the divine and its source of beauty. To be devoted to beauty is to appreciate existence itself. 

~Thank you to the friends who have shared these quotes and been a source of inspiration and beauty in my life.