The following were a few of the rewards of my recent visit to the Bluebell Springs estate of my brother Jim and sister-in-law Bev on Orcas Island in Washington’s San Juan Islands:
Bluebell Springs "picture" window
Glimpses of the Infinite.
Reminders of our lost Paradise.
Cheering of the body and the soul.
Calmness stealing through the mind.
Whether poking around on the beach at low tide, walking on the mossy carpet of old growth forest in adjacent Moran State Park, listening to the music of Bluebell Springs creek, or sitting in the great room overlooking the Georgia Strait watching the extended waning of the light on the longest days of the year, the beauty was overwhelming.
[click on photos to see larger images]
My time there compels me to agree with Emerson:
Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God’s handwriting—a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.
I believe it’s significant that in the Genesis creation account the first fact mentioned about the trees of the garden was that they were “pleasing to the eye” (Gen. 2:9). For this reason I’m convinced that the beauty we see and sense in the natural world is one of the most important evidences of God’s divine nature.
Nineteenth century American statesman George Bancroft expressed it like this: “Beauty is but the sensible image of the Infinite. Like truth and justice it lives within us; like virtue and the moral law it is a companion of the soul.”
In commenting on William Cullen Bryant’s beliefs about beauty in nature, theologian Augustus Strong observed: “The external world is beautiful, because unfallen. It shares with man the effects of sin; but whenever we retreat from the regions which man’s folly has despoiled, we may find something that reminds us of our lost Paradise.”
John Muir believed that “everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.”
The value of natural beauty to the human soul was what inspired the masterful landscape painter Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School of painting. With his paintings he wanted to put people back in touch with the Creator. He hoped his paintings would give city-dwelling admirers a yearning for the outdoors where they too could discover what he had—that “in gazing on the pure creations of the Almighty, he feels a calm religious tone steal through his mind, and when he has turned to mingle [again] with his fellow men, the chords which have been struck in that sweet communion cease not to vibrate.”
I’m convinced that beauty may be nature’s most profound apologist for God.
See you outdoors!
Dean
June 30th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
What beautiful photos all the way through here. I can’t think of another part of the country that as far as beauty goes, surpasses the northwest, from what I’ve picked up.
I agree that beauty is a prime pointer to the Creator.
By the way, I wouldn’t mind the rain, if you can get that kind of green!
July 1st, 2009 at 8:48 am
I’m always a little envious of those like yourself who detect and talk about beauty. I guess I’m just an old utilitarian who has always been fascinated with “how things work” so have spent my adult working life in technology. (wasn’t called that when I started)
But the older I get, the more I appreciate beauty and those who can show it to me. Wish I had been more sensitive to it in the past (couldn’t even get a decent grade in handwriting while in elementary school)
But in the outdoors, there is beauty and utility. I admit I’m more sensitive to things like weather patterns, dying Eastern Hemlock trees, the habits of Black Bears, etc. but beauty, especially nature’s variety, is starting to cause me to breathe a little deeper, and feel a little better. Do you suppose there might be hope for those of us who naturally gravitate to setting up a base camp while the others are strolling through a field of wildflowers? Could happen, I guess, but I’ll probably always be a teckie at heart, but who knows??