What is the most beautiful thing you have experienced this week?

Maybe something you heard. Maybe some beautiful music – music that moved you … Bach, Mozart, Miles Davis, Metallica, Death Cab for Cutie?

Maybe something you saw in the world of nature: the morning sun breaking through the mist and making Spring leaves sparkle, as though kissed by the dew; the gentle movement of cottony clouds.

It might be something you smelt: the scent of the forrest, the inescapable perfume of spring lilies; perhaps it was the smell of a good meal cooking when you were very hungry – could it be a neighbor's barbeque?

It might have been something you tasted: morsels from the friend's barbeque(!); an un-hurried glass of wine, a piece of fruit bursting with just the right sweetness.

Maybe it was something you experienced at work: things suddenly coming together, an unexpected new opportunity!

It might be something you experienced in a relationship: a meaningful glance from someone you love dearly; the soft touch of a child's hand.

Something else ...?

Hold that moment ... what does this "beauty" do to you you?

What does this "beauty" call out from you? Does it provoke you in a particular way?

Perhaps our "ordinary experiences of beauty are given to us to provide a clue, a starting point, from which we move on to recognize and be overwhelmed by and adore, and so to worship the beauty of God" N.T. Wright, Simply Christian.

Does beauty call out worship from you?

(The connection of beauty and worship is one made by three authors I want you to know about: G.K. Chesterton, Brian McLaren, and N.T. Wright. I'm sure my thoughts above are simply re-statements of things they've written much more eloquently!)