Beautiful In Its Time
Beautiful In Its Time
A reflection on beauty from Ecclesiastes
He has made everything beautiful in its time. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:11a (ESV)
What is beauty? It's often said that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, and that's true in one sense. What I find beautiful may not be the same as what you see. What my taste buds recognize as a beautiful flavor might not impress someone else. I may hear the beauty in the harmony of a barbershop quartet while another prefers the beauty of the angst expressed in the song Hello by Adele (personally, I love the beauty in both).
But in another sense, beauty is transcendent. An evening sky painted in shades of pink, purple, and indigo is beautiful simply because it is. A majestic mountain peak capped with snow is beautiful whether or not anyone recognizes its beauty. A flock of geese flying in formation as they migrate for winter is a beautiful thing to watch. These things aren't made beautiful by our calling them beautiful, but rather they define beauty for us. We recognize beauty like this–we don't create it.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God makes everything beautiful in its time. This refers to function and purpose. When it is time to plant, planting is beautiful. When it is time to harvest, harvesting is beautiful. When it is time to laugh, laughter is beautiful. But when it is time to grieve, laughter is distasteful.
Beauty, as God has established it, means fulfilling God's intended purpose and design in God's intended time. That's why the migrating geese are beautiful. They are doing what God designed them to do, in the time God established for them to do it. A waterfall is beautiful because it is fulfilling God's intended purpose for its existence. The stars in a night sky are beautiful because they are what God made them to be. And God made different things to have a different kind of beauty. An apple tree is beautiful when it produces apples. But this is a different kind of beauty than that of a huge old oak tree. Both are beautiful in their own way as they fulfill God's design.
What is God's design for you? Beauty isn't about how you look in a swimsuit or how glamorous your life appears to be on Instagram. Beauty is fulfilling God's purpose for your life. Work is beautiful when it's time to work, and rest is beautiful when it's time to rest. And life takes on beauty when we pursue God's calling in God's timing, even if that pursuit is fraught with difficulty.
This week, spend a few quiet moments reflecting on God's purpose for you. And see the beauty in yourself that comes from being loved by God.