Beauty, Love, and Nature

I’ve started noticing more yellow leaves on the ground recently. And, I hate to admit it, but we are coming up on the fall. But putting a positive spin on this, there is something that we can be looking forward to in the changing of the season. That is the natural beauty and colors that come with the fall.

Natural beauty is one of the ways that God can really draw us to Godself. There is a deep connection between beauty and the kind of love that ignites a desire to obtain the object of beauty. This kind of love is traditionally called eros. Now, sure, eros can be a sexual kind of love, but it is also so much more than just that. It is the desire to possess the beautiful object of our affections. When we see something beautiful in nature, like the changing of the leaves or the setting sun, a fire in our soul is stoked.  Through the beauty of creation, we are drawn upwards towards the one who is beauty. God put a little something of Godself in the work of creation so that when we experience those breathtaking moments, we long to obtain the beautiful one. Beauty gives the soul wings and begins our flight back to God, culminating in union with our beloved. As the weather changes and nature displays its grandeur, let our desire for the truly beautiful one ignite our love. The lover yearns for the beautiful, and in this seeks God.

A prayer from the Book of Common Prayer:

O heavenly Father, who hast filled the world with beauty:
Open our eyes to behold thy gracious hand in all thy works;
that, rejoicing in thy whole creation, we may learn to serve
thee with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all
things were made, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

BCP, 814