Beauty - the soul's medicine

Lately, i have been down. i think the combination of a great easter followed by a mind numbingly boring working week has sapped the life out of me. plus i think the fact that there is so little beauty around where i live and work. concrete city.

today we went out for a walk along a canal and to a beautiful pub. i came back feeling as though someone had opened the windows and light was shining again. i need beautiful things in my life - beauty confronts us and burrows deep inside. it stops us from thinking of everything as an 'it' and reminds us that there is a 'thou.' beauty reminds us that life isn't about getting stuff done, but it is about the joy of living. beauty isn't to be categorized and analyzed but experienced.

it is a scandal that in our society the rich seems to have colonized the country. it is probably way to simplistic to draw a connecting line between the depravation and social ills of the inner city with its lack of animate beauty, but i know that whenever i am surrounded by concrete and office and metal something inside burns more dimly. what if the church would cultivate places of beauty in the city? places where people were confronted with the miracle of life, of its ebbs and flows, the cycles of death and renewal. sure we have to be good stewards of the earth but isn't it more exciting to recognize the beauty of the earth and celebrate that instead of demanding people add more routine to their already manic lives?