Thursday, June 13, 2013

Beauty Hunter


What a blessing to be able to take this yearly day retreat each year when I come to Colorado! Spending the day at one of my very favorite places anywhere: Glen Eyrie. Special thanks to my parents for watching my children while I had an afternoon of q.u.i.e.t.

It was a beautiful and sunny Colorado Sunday afternoon. The perfect temperature for sitting half in the shade {so you don't burn} and have in the sun {so you are warm enough} and blissfully quiet. The short drive from the gate has a way of slowing a person down. Not only the curvy road and narrow stone bridges, but the peace that has settled over these 800 acres. It truly does feel a world apart from the pace of the traffic on the roads you just escaped.

I park the car, wander through the archway to the Carriage House and notice the big clock on top says noon straight up. The flowers are just starting to bloom and the trickle of water adds a visual and audible peacefulness to the atmosphere.



I've written about the Power of Place before. Glen Eyrie is what I hope Heaven looks and feels like only I know it will be even better. This place holds many memories for me and many of them are just mine and God's to share - of how He deepened me there. Of how I spent so much time with Him there and have continued to over the years even if only once a year. And of course, of getting married there and all the memories associated with that special event!

While the place is amazing, I think that the spirit of peace and the memories of special times with God are what draws me the most. There is a yearning to feel that closeness and deepen my walk with Him that feels the most possible when I am on that ground.




Haven't I taken every available photo there is to be taken of this place? From each angle? From each level of the grounds and each view? I hope not. I never want to be done with this place - ever.

As I go back now and look at these photos all taken during the first minutes of my retreat, I am reminded again that I am a beauty-hunter. I will look for it, hunt it down, seek it, pursue it and even create my own if I can't find any. No wait. I will create my own just because that is its own beauty and even if I can find it.

How can there possibly be any more for me to say about beauty? Yet, how can I ever stop writing and processing beauty when it is what makes me feel most alive? Even if it is the same theme - could this be my message in life? To embrace beauty, to seek it out, to pursue it and hunt for it. To enjoy and relish it and enjoy it. To create it and enjoy it.

Hmmmmm, I'll stop there for today. Hunt for beauty today. Pursue it. Create it. Share it. And, above all - praise God for it!

3 comments:

Denise said...

Yes, I believe it can be! You are passionate about it! His beauty is reflected in you!

Julie said...

Monica,

I have come to believe that we crave beauty because we long to see our Father's face. God is the Source of all beauty, so it would make perfect sense that we would be drawn to it. All beauty is simply a reflection of Him. Beauty draws us to Him, beauty IS Him. What a joy to realize that we will never run out of beauty to enjoy in our unending God. And imagine, if this tainted, sin-filled earth is still this beautiful, Heaven and His face will be mind-boggling gorgeous!

Thanks for sharing -

Mom said...

Lovely thoughts and lovely photos :)