Unveiling Beauty

     The noonday sun shines too brightly for the waking eye. The breaking of dawn provides time for our gaze to adjust to the brilliance before us. Beauty is meant to be unveiled... with time. With trust.
     Veils... Our clothing serves a purpose--for what? We all know there are parts meant to be covered. Those same parts, in the context of love and commitment, are also meant to be explored. Beauty is discovered in relationship. And true relationship is grounded in trust. As a couple begins to trust in the other's love, deeper levels of intimacy are reached and greater beauty is unveiled. Layer by layer. For just as a plant requires time, proper soil, and nourishment for a flower to bud... and then to bloom, so do we.
     Forgive me for being so explicit, but I have a purpose here. Daily I am surrounded by a world that exploits sexuality. Whether by music, images, or conversation--the very things that offer the eye's satisfaction instead bring momentary pleasure and lasting shame. Seeking love in all the wrong ways, some flaunt treasure hoping someone else will deem it valuable. Others seek goods for themselves, and strip others bare. Insatiable appetite--illusionary filling and left only wanting. Instead of love protected through covenant, we have rape, divorce, lust. Ugliness... isn't this just beauty with a twist--a sick one?
     I love beauty. I want to see beauty and to share beauty with others. I don't want this world to convince me to flaunt for personal glory, nor do I want this world to lead me to take what is not mine. I don't want to trade true beauty for an ugly lie.
     I love beauty, because I love its source: the very essence of Love itself who knows the meaning of beauty. He has unveiled him--the Beautiful One is Jesus Christ. As King David penned thousands of years ago "One thing have I asked the Lord, that will I seek after:...to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord" (Psalm 27:4). His prayer is my prayer. And if what I said before is true, true beauty is meant to be unveiled. With trust... with time.
     I always wondered why the Lord "blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their hearts, and turn and I would heal them" (John 12:40). Could it be that he knew that his beauty was not ready to be unveiled, because they did not yet trust him? They did not have faith that he truly loved them, otherwise why would they reject someone so good? Thankfully, that same Lord whom so many refused to trust, proved that we could trust him. How? Well, how does someone prove their trust? By keeping their word. No wonder God kept promising a Savior for thousands of years. A promise pregnant with anticipation offers either great joy in its fulfilment or great disappointment in its breaking. And God's promises always lead to joy for us who believe them, because he always keeps his word. He wanted to prove that to us, and he did. Through Jesus, through whom the veil has been torn that we may come before him with unveiled faces!
     Now, even though Jesus can be trusted, we can't. So how does that work for a two-way relationship? Through the very keeping of his promise, he made the way for us to be in relationship forever. We didn't keep our end of the relationship, and so he kept it for us. That is true love. And as he opens our eyes to that love, we begin to trust him, and we bud... then bloom.
     I glimpse his beauty, and he beckons. Will he prove trustworthy? I take a little step. Yes! I see more of his beauty. Will he prove trustworthy again? I take another step. Yes! I behold even more of his beauty. And so it goes, diving further and further into this holy beauty-gazing. Faith step by faith step. Can I trust him? Yes! Always yes! And so I discover his beauty, layer by layer, surrounded by his love. And as I walk closer, I too am transformed, until that glorious day, when I can be trusted back--because his love has made me so.

(Oh and, by the way, we are going to need an eternity to exhaust our discovery of how beautiful the Lord is. He's that good.)