As I was mowing the lawn recently, I noticed my three-year-old daughter walking towards me with a cheeky grin. She was holding a fresh rose head which she had snapped off.

Admittedly, my first thought was to remind her not to pull off the rose heads!

But before I opened my mouth to say anything, I paused for a moment and realised that perhaps I’d be missing the point if I used the opportunity for a lecture.

Because, while it might not have been an ideal act, my daughter had recognised something beautiful and decided she wanted to share in its beauty a little more closely. A perfectly natural, human response to encountering beauty.

We all have an innate attraction towards beauty, but children in particular seem to be drawn towards it. They are often enchanted by natural wonders like seashells and delight in beautiful literature.

Reflecting upon such encounters, Pope Benedict XVI once said:

“It may have happened on some occasion that you paused before a sculpture, a picture, a few verses of a poem or a piece of music that you found deeply moving, that gave you a sense of joy, a clear perception, that is, that what you beheld was not only matter, a piece of marble or bronze, a painted canvas, a collection of letters or an accumulation of sounds, but something greater, something that ‘speaks’, that can touch the heart, communicate a message, uplift the mind,” (General Audience, 2011).

Have you ever been captivated by the beauty of something? Have you been transfixed upon the sight or sound of something, revelling in awe and wonder? 

Beauty has an incredible power to captivate those who behold it. But in our fast-paced world where we are constantly short of time, do we ever stop to allow something beautiful to touch our hearts?

During this autumn month, perhaps you could make a concerted effort to literally ‘stop and smell the roses’. Contemplate the beauty surrounding you. Allow yourself the time to be moved by the grandeur of God. For in contemplating beauty, we are led to the author of all beauty, God.

Further Reading

Arts/Beauty (National Centre for Evangelisation)
The Way of Beauty (Archbishop Julian Porteous)
Truth Goodness Beauty Project

Image: Pexels: Allan Mas
Words: Matthew Biddle