See God        (face to face)

One of my favorite quotes when I was much younger came from “The Little Prince”. It wasn’t only about beauty, but it certainly applies to it. I remember it as, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, for that which is essential is invisible to the naked eye.”

Beauty is neither an achievement nor a reflection. Its most important characteristic is its radiant authenticity. When I once lived in northwoods wilderness, I had a single neighbor some distance away. Seventy-five year old Madge Severenson trudging through a half mile of fresh snow to bring me a gallon of warm, creamy milk from her cow was a lesson in beauty. Her lovely white curls covered by a baseball cap with a bit of cow dung on it from a swishing tail; her round wrinkled face with twinkling eyes; her cheeks and nose reddened by cold and exertion; her baggy trousers, untied boots, and big warm coat; none of it could distract from or hide the lovely radiance of her heart. Our brains are wired to choose appearance, but there can only be true beauty where there is truth.