Why Beauty?

If, as some suppose, we live in a world formed by purposeless processes, why should there be beauty? Autumn leaves needn't dazzle the eye with their rich multicolored display. Spring flowers needn't fascinate by color, form and fragrance. These and countless other examples can, of course, be explained by the scientific processes or necessities which underly them (recycling of chlorophyl at the end of the growing season which allows the previously masked oranges, reds and browns to emerge; reliance on color, shape and fragrance to attract insects necessary for pollination), but our capactiy to appreciate the resulting beauty should not be taken for granted. Beauty and the power to perceive it are ours by design-- for our enjoyment and inspiration, but most of all that we might be drawn to the One who is the source of all beauty and who loves it best.

What purpose does a sunset serve
but to stir the human soul--
to captivate us and intrigue
perchance to make us whole?

None, some say, it's all explained
by physics plain and clear--
the turning earth and light that's bent
through the atmosphere.

That explains the colors
but not why we should care--
not why we're captivated
by something way out there.

What holds the eye and thrills the heart
in colors in the sky?
Perhaps an understanding
that there's more than meets the eye.

An Awesome Insect -- the Monarch

I praise You God for the monarch butterfly, an awesome insect if ever there was one! Irresistably beautiful on a lazy summer day, but full of purpose in the fall-- migrating as much as three thousand miles to communal winter roosts on paper-thin wings. How can anything so seemingly frail make such a journey? How do they so unerringly find their way to these isolated mountain forests where they've never been? They are generations removed from the monarchs that wintered there the year before and then started north in the spring, each succeeding generation moving further north until there are monarchs drifting in meadows from Mexico to Manitoba. Each generation a lifespan of a few weeks until the final generation of the season. These make the two to three month journey to their winter roosts, survive the winter and head north again before producing the next generation the following spring. What a cool insect. Thank you God!