I Reserve The Right To A Take Back

There is new overwhelming beauty to be found at every moment of this spring, it would seem.

I was leaning out over the railing off a friend's porch watching a beautiful Virginia sun set. You know the type...a light blue dusk sky being persuaded by the pink and purple companions of the sun to fade to a deep steel blue...only so much more than that. Then, beyond the "so much more" I was able to add the sense of belonging, joy, and love that comes from being surrounded by true friends.

Beautiful. So beautiful I could only breathe and try to take it in.

I was jarred from my reverie when a close friend of mine joined me at the rail. Knowing my fascination with words, and quite enjoying the sunset himself, he asked me how I would write what we were seeing down, how I, with words, would capture that moment.

Right when he asked....I realized that I would not. Even more, I realized that I could not.

Bummer, eh? NO! That's the crazy thing. The instant I knew that capturing such a perfect moment was impossible, I experienced such a beautiful freedom it was like flying.

Well, maybe not flying....but something equally exhilarating.

I love that I am incapable of capturing a sunset. I think that there is nothing quite like mankind's forever-disappointing inability to show how great God truly is. I have no idea what possessed me to want to be able to reproduce the Lord's handiwork, especially when I recall how many times I have been disappointed at various paintings' representations of various scenes in nature. It cannot be done to a satisfactory level...man's attempts will always be found wanting when set against the masterpiece that is God's creation.

The beauty in nature is so overwhelmingly fulfilling that I am constantly left paralyzed by it, stymied in my attempts to thoroughly take it in. I can, quite literally, do nothing other than sit and breathe and appreciate.

Contrast that feeling to that which is to be had when I'm looking at a painting of a sea scape or a mountainside...not one of complete disgust, but I am always left wanting more. I am always left dissatisfied.


Praise God for the fact that I cannot create what He has created. My being an equal in ability with the one who rules the universe would be disheartening indeed.

I'm not entirely certain that I've made sense tonight.





But I think I'm entitled to a bit of confusion.