“Rarely do we know what is at stake when beauty surprises us into stillness and we pause to listen, even for a moment, to creation’s song.”

Amazon has a preview of Placemaker: Cultivating Places of Comfort, Beauty, and Peace by Christie Purifoy. This short excerpt from the preview chapter needed to be shared, since it connects well with Sandy Kempner’s letter.

Christie write: “The magnetic pull toward beauty is an inclination most of us carry but too few of us acknowledge. Even if we are aware of it, we seldom honor it as something planted in us for a purpose. The rushing world has convinced us that beauty is something extra, not the thing itself. I would never have guessed, and the Bartrams did not even guess, that the hand that compels us to stop and stare at something as insignificant as a beautiful tree in flower might be the hand of God. Rarely do we know what is at stake when beauty surprises us into stillness and we pause to listen, even for a moment, to creation’s song.”

If you haven’t had a chance, read Beauty as seen by Sandy Kempner. Sandy’s letter begins:

This morning, my platoon and I were finishing up a three-day patrol. Struggling over steep hills covered with hedgerows, trees, and generally impenetrable jungle, one of my men turned to me and pointed a hand, filled with cuts and scratches, at a rather distinguished-looking plant with soft red flowers waving gaily in the downpour (which had been going on ever since the patrol began) and said, “That is the first plant I have seen today which didn’t have thorns on it.” I immediately thought of you. …

Sandy tells us the outcome after one person points out a “distinguished-looking plant.” This is an example of the therapeutic power of beauty that continues to live. As Sue Stuart Smith noted, “Beauty is a form of emotional nourishment.” When we share beauty with others, we may be passing on something significant: a tiny connection that may make a difference. One never knows. It’s the mystery that often reveals itself much later.