For Beauty & For Food
How often do you appreciate beauty? There are many potential answers…
For some, beauty is a sublime but occasional interruption—limited to times when grandeur punctures the fabric of a hurried routine. Others, perhaps more attuned to beauty, may detect it frequently and at smaller scales. Most of us fall somewhere between highly calloused and deeply attuned.
But the range above has to do with awareness of beauty, not its role. When you encounter beauty and become conscious of its presence, what does it do to you? In you? Through you? How do you respond to beauty?
What is beauty for?
Beauty is mysterious and elusive even when palpably present. However, like the scent of an unseen, fragrant bloom, the aroma should lead us to look for a source. Beauty is a gift, granted to us at the beginning of all things.
The presence of beauty can be inferred in the term “good” in the creation account of Genesis 1, even though it is not explicitly mentioned. But in the creation account in Genesis 2, where God speaks in more detail about the humanity he has created, beauty shows up early and clearly.
In that story, God places His newly formed image bearer in a garden. Then, we read this: “Out of the ground the Lord God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food...”
Adam, as a finite creature, is dependent on God. As his designer, God meets Adam’s needs by causing trees to come up from the earth. What’s interesting here is that the first detail mentioned about these providential gifts is not their physical food, but that these trees are bearers of beauty. The trees are pleasing to the sight. . . and good for food.
When it comes to human needs, few things are more urgent than food. You need not skip many meals before your body reminds you of this need. (Sometimes quite audibly!) Yet in this text, beauty is in tandem with food.
Why mention beauty first? Why mention it at all? If we have a bias toward a materialist mindset (with a big helping of pragmatism) we may believe that the mention of the trees being pleasing to the eye is a side-comment attached to the real issue—that as a material being, Adam needed physical food to nourish and sustain him.
He did. And we do. Physical bodies need food. Yet, with the economy of words in this passage, and the fact that it is scripture, every phrase has a purpose. The mention of the beauty of the trees is neither an accident nor florid language, for though we have physical, material bodies, we are also spirit.
In bringing forth those trees, God was supplying Adam’s needs. Food was one of them. Yet the idea that something is pleasing to the eye speaks to another need we have—to experience and take in the beautiful. Food feeds our bodies. Beauty nourishes our souls.
Think back on the last time you became strongly aware of beauty, to a time when it was particularly thick and tangible to you. Did you stop what you were doing? Pause to observe more deeply? Stand and take part in it in some special way?
When I’ve had those moments I use phrases like “I had to stop to drink it in” or “I wanted to savor that moment” or “it filled me with delight.” The language is telling. It’s the language of nourishment. In a sense, we eat beauty. Somehow beauty is a feeding and filling of our souls.
If this is the case, what we’re consuming and how we consume it matters.
Eating Well
If you came to my house for dinner, I would happily lay out a homemade meal for you. We’re foodies at our place, and we love to share. As nice as that may be, the food provides no nourishment for your physical body if you do not eat it. So it is with beauty. It may be readily available to us, but it cannot force its way into our lives. There is a kind of willful ingestion that must take place for our souls to receive nourishment.
Eating well is difficult when our lives are packed with activity, leaving little margin. As a result, we opt for quick options—most of which are of low nutritional value. We eat fewer healthy meals when our schedule has no space. This is true for physical meals as well as the feeding of our spirits.
When I feel the need for inspiration, I often find myself on social media, scrolling through images of art. In some sense, it does meet that need and there is beauty to be found there. But my engagement with it is brief and rather shallow. It is a pre-packaged, fast-food kind of encounter with curated little bits of loveliness. What I lose in quality, I may try to make up for in volume, scrolling far longer than is helpful.
To be well nourished and inspired, I must recognize that engagement with the beautiful and sublime things of the world is a real need. Then, I need to value it enough to create space for a deeper, more reflective kind of appreciation. It need not be all the time, but when my soul is weary, it’s probably been a while since I’ve had a deep feeding.
What I need are sit-down meals of beauty.
Consider what happens when you eat out at a very good restaurant. Great meals take significant time and skill to prepare. They also demand a different response from those who intend to enjoy them. I have very different expectations about the time and attention I should employ to eat a four- course meal in a fine restaurant than for the ‘meal’ I ordered 90 seconds prior, shoved in a paper bag and handed to me through my car window.
Fine dining. It requires a significant block of time. I look over a menu for things that excite or intrigue me—or perhaps a confirmed favorite that I know I will enjoy. I have a sense of anticipation, and when the meal comes, I give it special attention. I eat more slowly, savoring the food’s texture and flavor. I take note of how the different elements pair and contrast. There’s a pacing and process to maximize my enjoyment. I allow the experience to wash over my senses. When I do these things, I feel an increased sense of satisfaction. I am grateful.
What if I approached music, poetry, literature, or art with the same expectations? What if I booked an evening for a special engagement with food for my soul? Selected something that intrigued me? Engaged with it using all my senses at a pace that allowed me to savor and discern its lovely nuance? Allowed such an experience to move me to gratitude?
I cannot eat out at an expensive restaurant for every meal. I can’t afford that much time or money. There are jobs to be done, obligations to fulfill, and a myriad of things packed into my schedule. Likewise, I can’t just wander around all day only feasting on beauty. Work is a gift and we are called to be good stewards.
That’s not our problem. Most of us in our high-paced, accomplishment-driven Western culture are hardly stopping to eat. When we do, meals are processed, not very healthy, and are consumed in haste. I fear that our consumption of beauty follows a similar pattern. Food for our souls is pushed to the margins or supplanted by quick, low-nutrient fixes.
We need to make time for more real meals. Body & soul. It need not be a feast, but we do need more hearty dinners. We need to slow down for beauty.
In times when anxiety is running high and the world is so full of anger and ugliness, we must find time to dwell on the beautiful. We need reserved times to metabolize beauty. For when we savor the goodness that’s been shared with us, we begin to see the world through different lenses.
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he challenges us not to be anxious, but to go to God with our requests and a thankful heart. We can expect God’s promised peace in return. Then, Paul challenges us to engage with that which will nourish our souls.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).
Beauty can be found all around us. The challenge is to find time to engage with it—to notice, ponder, savor, and enjoy it. When we do, nourishment and gratitude are the result.
How often do you appreciate beauty? May those times increase in frequency and richness.
And may you eat from all the trees, raised up for you, that are pleasing to the eye and good for food.
