These are dark times in our world. Part of me says, “Pay close attention to the darkness today.” But a deeper, shyer part of me is daily drawn deeper than the darkness into the surprise of beauty--the scent of a lilac; the resonance of a well-loved voice; a child’s early-morning joke; a decades-old memory of Auntie Marg; a simple piano melody. True, I am looking for beauty; and yet, even as the darkness deepens, I see with awe that beauty is looking for me.
“[S]omehow through the experience of beauty . . . you can touch [God] for an instant.” Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.” John 1:5