A
thing of beauty is a joy forever
I am in
Stillwater, Minnesota on a warm day in May, inside a theological
bookstore located in a building that was once a church. I am
searching through row upon row of books, when I hear the sound of
someone coming in through the door just off to my left. I glance up.
She looks to be about thirty years old, dressed from the top of her
head to the top of her shoes in white. I am sure she is a Catholic
sister and I am sure she is beautiful. She greets me with a smile and
a nod of her head, and as I return the greeting, she moves past me
further into the store. A short time later I sense movement to my
right, and look up to see her again as she is leaving. As she passes,
she once again greets me with a smile and a nod of her head. Again I
return the greeting. Then, as she is about to go out the door, I say
to her back, “By the way, you look quite beautiful, you know.”
She turns, blushes, smiles, and says, “Thank you.” Then as she
goes out the door, she adds, perhaps to herself, perhaps to God, “I
love wearing this habit.”
I have no
lesson here. I simply like that young Catholic sister in her white
habit. I like her smile, the blush on her cheeks, the fact that she
likes wearing her habit and likes looking beautiful in it. I cherish
those few moments in her presence and doubt I will ever forget them.
Often
beauty will come, unexpected and undeserved, like a gentle rain in
the midst of a dry summer. Our only work is to take notice and give
thanks. Still again, we make choices in life. We can choose to look
for beauty, goodness, and grace, or we can close our eyes, stop our
ears, and howl like some wounded creature caught in a trap, damning
all, refusing all, and loving nothing. We can be so inward turned as
to find no joy in another’s joy, no compassion for another’s
plight, and no desire to reach out and lift up someone who has
fallen. Or we can recognize our own need to be loved and figure out
that perhaps such is also true for everyone else in this world. We
can search out beauty, and when it is found, we can cherish the
finding, give thanks to God for such a blessing as this, and hold it
in our heart for all time. As John Keats (1795-1821) tells us in his
epic poem Endymion,
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”
Gary
