What is it to be a "beauty-bringer?"

I am certain that I exist on this earth, at least in part, as a beauty-bringer. I bear this gentle conclusion upon the sweet joy of a calm morning spent sipping coffee and gazing at a million sunlit diamonds dancing brightly on a serene lake.

Throughout the day, I pondered the question, “What is it to be a beauty-bringer?” Certainly, our world – especially the art world – is confused about this most basic question. For me, the answer revolves around The Supreme Beauty-Bringer; the Original Artist who created everything and pronounced it all “good” (tov in Hebrew, see Genesis 1, verses 10, 12, 18, 21, and 31). This meant that He saw His own “artwork” as “whole, pleasing, right, and agreeable.” As a beauty-bringer made in the image of The Beauty-Bringer (Genesis 1:27), this original proclamation tells me what it means for me to bring true beauty into the world – beauty that is truly “good.” It is to create art that is “whole, pleasing, right, and agreeable” the way He defines such things.

On a practical level, this means I employ the elements of art – line, shape, space, value, form, texture, and color – to produce something truly good (tov). When by divine grace this happens, something deep is awakened in me and in others who see my art. There arises a mysterious awareness that something “whole, pleasing, right, and agreeable” has been brought into the world. It seems to me that this mysterious heart-movement echoes The Beauty-Bringer’s own heart-movement as He gazed upon His own “artwork” in Genesis 1. It is then – in the presence of this small and derivative, yet truly good and beautiful thing I have created – that we spontaneously and gladly echo His Genesis 1 declaration “it is good.”

Thank you, Great Beauty-Bringer, for making me in Your image and for giving me the gifts, passion, and opportunity to steward my life on earth as a beauty-bringer like You. What a thrill and honor!