Beauty All Around – Sunday, April 19, 1998
Beauty has been called the handwriting of God.1 Something of the divine is in us when we recognize, appreciate, or create beauty. It lifts, enlivens, and gives meaning to life.
One man discovered this in his work as a church custodian. Instead of simply dusting and polishing the pews for Sunday services, he chose to use paste wax, buffing every part of them until they were smooth and slick. When asked why he went to so much work to make the benches beautiful, he explained that it meant much more to him than a job well done. Polishing the pews was his way of glorifying God. The beauty of the benches was a reflection of his love for the Savior.2
Real beauty is always the byproduct of love—love of God and of all His creations.
Not only do we enjoy such beauty; we need it in our lives. Great music, poetry, and art can be food for our souls. Once we’ve tasted such refinement and mastery—once we’ve known beauty—our minds and spirits hunger for more. And yet, sometimes we starve ourselves with slick substitutions—” beauty” in a box, so to speak, rather than beauty born of effort, discipline, and love.
Thankfully, real beauty is within everyone’s reach. The beautiful is not found only in art museums, symphony halls, and in the natural wonders of the world. Beauty is all around us. Without leaving our domain, we can find beauty. The sparkle of a kitchen sink, scrubbed and polished to perfection, is beautiful. The bravery of spring’s first blossom is beautiful. The whisper of a child’s heart, spoken in prayer, in nothing less than divine.
No one need tell us these things are beautiful; somehow, we just know they are. Because of the divinity within us, we each have a capacity to appreciate and create beautiful feelings, thoughts, and things.
Whether a piece of music, a work of art, or a polished pew, we can find beauty when we glorify God with the works of our hearts and hands. Moses of old made this connection for us when he prayed, “Let the beauty of the Lord our god be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands.”3 The more we seek for beauty in our daily endeavors, the more we will see the handwriting of God all around us.
1Charles Kingsley, The Treasure Chest (New York, New York: Harper & Row, 1965), p. 27.
2Lena M. Brunson, “More Than a Job Well Done,” Ensign, October 1995, p. 15.
3Old Testament, Psalms 90:17.
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April 19, 1998
Broadcast Number 3,583