Counting the Omer, Day 12

If truth is beauty how come nobody has their hair done in a library?
  -Lily Tomlin

A few days ago I mentioned that we should see God's beauty.

What is beauty?

You can make your own definition.  For me, beauty is delicate yet inspiring sublimity.

Some things are inspiring and sublime but not delicate.  Mountains can be majestic.  Marching band music can be uplifting.  It seems less accurate to me to call them beautiful.

Some things are delicate and sublime but not inspiring.  Candle flames are fascinating.  Crystal goblets are elegant.  Ladro statues are exquisite.   Again it seems less accurate to me to use the word "beautiful", although I might do so sloppily in casual conversation.

Beauty reaches to gently touch us.

How do we see God's beauty?

In what ways is God sublime, inspiring, and delicate?

God has sublime down pat.  No trouble there.

Not everything God does is inspiring.  I will put that part on hold for a moment.

What does God do that is delicate?  What an interesting question!

In my life, the spiritual things most delicate and inspiring are how God responds when I flirt with him.  That needs some explanation.

Scripture instructs me to sometimes think of myself as (part of) Yeshua's bride.  As a happily married man this is not so strange.  There are some aspects of flirting that married couples should keep alive.  These are usually not as wild and attention-seeking as teens first meeting and flirting with each other.  But it is more spontaneous and nonsensical than the rest of married life.

Romance is inefficient!  There are wiser ways to spend time and money than on flowers, fancy chocolates, hiding little notes in your spouse's lunches, and writing poetry.  But that inefficiency demonstrates that you do not take your relationship with the other person for granted, and do not treat it as business.

A healthy spiritual life does include taking God's presence for granted.  We are supposed to rely on God!

It also includes some business meeting type activity.  We pray some intercessory petitions day after day.  We read scripture even when not in the mood to do so.

But it must also include giving ourselves to God in spontaneous and inefficient ways.  Then God responds, and we see God's beauty.