I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently about beauty and delight.  I’ve just been reading a book called Sabbath, by Dan Allender, that has brought this to the forefront again.

The author begins the book with the assertion that true Sabbath rest isn’t just about ceasing from work, or getting a “break,” but about experiencing true delight, or so entering into beauty that we are brought to a point of awe toward the Creator of beauty.

As the book continues, it is all very philosophical.  Although valuable, in my opinion, for stretching the reader’s thinking and drawing us out of our ruts, it isn’t very practical.  And it isn’t all biblical.  For example, he quotes from a gentleman named Abraham Haschel about time:

“Time, that which is beyond and independent of space, is everlasting; it is the world of space which is perishing.  Things perish, within time; time itself does not change.  We should not speak of the flow or passage of time but of the flow or passage of space through time.  It is not time that dies; it is the human body which dies in time.  Temporality is an attribute of the world of space, of things of space. Time which is beyond space is beyond the division in past, present, and future.”

True or not, this is certainly thought-provoking, and has the potential to affect how we approach our time.  But Allender’s response is that “if Heschel is correct,” (and, in context, the implication is that Allender believes him to be so), “time doesn’t have to be redeemed or used or stolen or made or spent…”  However, the Bible clearly says that we do need to redeem time!  (Eph. 5:16, Col. 4:5)

Whereas I would have expected a treatise on the Sabbath to go point-by-point through what the Scriptures say about the Sabbath, that is not the case here.  I find this ironic considering the author points out that keeping the Sabbath is a commandment!  Wouldn’t we expect, then, to read what God said he had in mind for the keeping of it?

Nevertheless, I did find much of this to be valuable reading, if for no other reason than, as previously mentioned, to make me think outside of my current rut.  I also appreciate the reminder that the Sabbath – and, indeed, life – are not intended by God to be burdensome.  Rather, as any good father, our heavenly Father wants us to take delight in the gifts he’s given us.

This is a point that God seems to have been trying to hammer home to me for a while.  It was my greatest takeaway from Brennan Manning’s Patched Together (another book whose overall theology is suspect).  It is the theme of Desiring God (which I haven’t had a chance to read yet, but whose theology I expect is much more trustworthy).

I have been moving lately toward the conclusion that beauty is a human need.  Not a need at the same level as food, of course, but far more necessary than I like to think.  I have a tendency to be so practical that I consider beauty completely unnecessary.  I can consider function so highly that the form doesn’t matter.  Instead, I believe that function should be considered as the priority (unless, of course, we’re talking about a piece of art or something, where its form is its function), but form should be considered, as well.

One of the things that awed me about the French Quarter of New Orleans when I visited was that the buildings were so beautiful.  Even the new buildings going up were aesthetically lovely, which caught my attention because nowadays that is not the norm here in the U.S.  The buildings served their function, obviously!  But did it hurt or help for them to do so in a visually pleasing manner?

A friend made me some dryer balls in a craft swap.  She did something I would never have thought of – she embroidered them.  They’re beautiful.  I “love” them.  They bring me delight.  🙂  I need to make an effort to bring delight to the senses in everyday things like that.  Not to exchange function for form, but to enhance function with form.