“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” (Psalm 84:1-2)

I have to admit, I’m a sucker for beauty. As a photographer, I have learned to keep my eye attuned to the world around me, looking for beauty in my surroundings. From mountain grandeur to coastal swamps,from botanical gardens to the garden in the backyard – even to the lamp in the parking lot outside of our apartment – beauty is ever present, waiting to be witnessed.

I have thousands of photos, literally, that testify to the omnipresence of beauty in the world around us. 

When I see something beautiful, I stop in my tracks, and something stirs within me. I feel a sense of awe, wonderment. My heart is at peace, at least for the moment. Whenever I encounter beauty, the worries of the world seem to dissolve, if only temporarily.

I think that one of the most basic yearnings of the human heart is for beauty. Beauty inspires us. I think the pursuit of beauty makes us better people.

The pursuit of beauty is very much akin to the single greatest longing of the human soul: to have fellowship with the living God. Just ask David, as in King David in the Bible. David had everything – money, power, popularity, and all the benefits that come with those things. Yet despite having everything that one would think someone would need, he repeatedly confessed that his greatest need – the deepest longing and desire of his heart – was to have fellowship with God:

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. (Ps. 27:4)

Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. (Ps. 51:11)

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. (Ps. 62:1)

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Ps. 63:1)

I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” (Ps. 16:2)

My heart yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (Ps. 84:2) 

David vocalizes a longing that very much resonates with me. I, too, have nothing – am nothing – apart from a vibrant loving relationship with the living God. Without God in my life, I am empty. 

God is everything to me. God is the One who makes everything else in my life infinitely better. God’s love enriches my marriage, inspiring me to strive to be a better husband and father. God makes me more forgiving. God plants within my heart the determination to share God’s goodness with everyone I encounter. God fills my work and vocation with meaning and purpose and joy. God fills me with compassion and concern for the suffering of others. God makes my heart attuned to injustice, and compels me to work for a more just world.

My soul is empty apart from God. With God, my soul is full. It really is that simple. 

Here’s something amazing to consider: this longing for a relationship is something that God shares with each of us. God earnestly desires for us to be in fellowship with him. One of the things upon which we are called to reflect during the season of Lent is the extent to which God went to restore the relationship that we broke with our sin. The depth of love that God shows to us in sending Jesus to do for us that which we are unable to do on our own – namely, to save us from our sin and to restore us unto God – is truly beyond measure. 

Our pursuit of God is never in vain, because God is ever and always pursuing us in love and grace.

That, friends, truly is beautiful.