"Sometimes, there's so much beauty in the world - I feel like I can't take it, like my heart is just going to cave in."
The glory of God cannot be contained to mere ideas, words and conceptions. It floods this world that wherever there is beauty or majesty or unspeakable goodness, it is a reflection of one who is infinitely more beautiful, infinitely more majestic and unspeakably more good than we can imagine.
Don't misunderstand me, the world is full of darkness and evil and pain and suffering but occasionally I get a glimpse of the beauty of creation, of the goodness of humanity. When I hear a piece of music which moves me so deeply, when I see a film that speaks of a truth too profound to describe, when I see beauty in the most mundane of things, then I cannot help but worship the God who created all of this.
The glory of God is inescapable when you begin to notice it, the very thought that there is something rather than nothing makes me so thankful. And then I see the hands of a loving God all around; it is reflected in a simple friendship, the creativity of an artist, the great minds of a philosopher, the simplicity of a child, the goodness of a parent, the generosity of a stranger. I see these things and I begin to understand what it means to worship. Through sickness, disease, evil and poverty there is light that shines even though sometimes it appears so dim. But when you see the merest glimpse of it, what else can you do but give glory and praise to the God who is beyond our comprehension, who is bigger than our understanding, but who is closer than the quietest whisper.
I live in the gap. The gap between this world with glimpses of glory and the world which will be nothing but glory and beauty. But I have hope, hope that one day all things will be made new. What is old will pass away, and what is beautiful will remain.
