God of Light, dear helper of the weak—
None have seen Your face and lived to speak
But "beautiful" they call You, just the same
Deliverance and love are in Your name.
And though we see so little; though we lose
Our sight of You when selfishly we choose,
Though far away from all we really know—
You share Your secrets with Your friends; and so
You have for us great riches to reveal;
What eye can't see, but tender hearts can feel—
For in Your kindness, past all measurement
We find what "beautiful" has always meant.
Author notes
I wrote this after hearing, for the 100th time, a song on the radio describing God as "beautiful". I wanted to catch the irony of using such a word to describe an invisible God, and explain why we are really justified in doing so...
Because what is seen by the heart is beautiful in a far more absolute way than what is merely seen with the eye.
They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
This is beauty.
Written April 13th, 2006
In a list
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Comments
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You know, I entirely agree! But I can't put my finger on it either.
Maybe it's missing too much of the personal element? I've been fiddling with this one off and on for several weeks (I've got a Word doc with about 25 poem fragments on it) and I think I just got tired of trying to fix it and posted it prematurely. 
It's really good to hear from you! I hope you're doing well.
RL -
Hi RL. I really liked the authors notes you left here, they went a long way to explaining where this came from, thanks. I do like the poem, I like the message you are conveying and I found parts of it quite touching, like
"You have for us great riches to reveal;
What eye can't see, but tender hearts can feel—"
but, I'm sorry to say, overall the poem didn't have your usual easy flow. I can't quite put my finger on why - but it didn't quite hold the rhythm for me that your pieces usually create so easily.
I hope all is well with you.
LB
xx -
Simply beautiful!!!
You have for us great riches to reveal;
What eye can't see, but tender hearts can feel—
For in Your kindness, past all measurement
We find what "beautiful" has always meant.
Its amazing what God will show to us in our hearts what we can only feel if we open the eyes of our hearts...his tender mercy and goodness for starters!
Thanks for sharing this! God bless!!
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Beautiful
Only God knows how to reveal His beauty. And through your pen, He again has choosen you to share His mind's perception. The more of Him I see, the less I can handle before I return to where I'm supposed to be: inside His sacred heart.
You've reached beyond the stars, and into His Soul.
Edited on Apr 18, 11:52 p.m. because ''.
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