Farley Lewis

People talk of beauty so grand it is otherworldly, or transcendent. Transcendent beauty carries an invitation to transcend, inviting us to dream outside the lines, beyond the natural. Beauty invites us to access another realm. Perhaps because it came from another realm.

I see fall reflections in a creek, a splash of brilliant color at sunrise, a cardinal on a snow-covered branch, and something inside of me seems to say, “This is how the world was meant to be.” I’m home, here in this little corner of grandeur. And a door opens, just a crack. As I gaze, it is almost like I am glimpsing, through the door of beauty, light from another realm. And I wonder, could the whole world look like this again?

A man once lived who spoke often of the kingdom of heaven. His life and words and deeds were stunning, breathtaking in beauty. With a word He transformed a life-threatening storm at sea into a postcard picture of calm. He saw a crowd dizzy with hunger and far from home, so He accessed another realm and set before them fish and bread, more than they could eat. He transformed a home mourning for a dead daughter into a celebration of restored life. He saw a man covered with the ugly sores of leprosy and made him handsome again. People watched in awe, breathless. I can almost hear someone in the watching crowd, speaking in hushed tones, “This is how the world was meant to be.”

They caught a glimpse of another realm, light from a different kingdom, breathtaking in beauty. Beauty touches something deep within us. If we are listening, we can hear it whisper the message of radical hope, “The whole world could be this way.” To believe such a message is either delusional, or it’s the hope burning in the very heart of every living soul. I’m going with the second.