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I snapped this shot shortly after daybreak this morning while biking along a little used beach access on St. Simons Island. The beauty of the morning glory wreathed dune surprised me and sent me digging for my cell phone camera. Had I wheeled along this path just a couple of hours later, I’d have missed the flowers which would’ve already rolled up their petals like awnings on a cloudy day.
Tonight as I sit at my desk back home I’ve been thinking about this morning’s experience and the fleeting quality of most of this world’s beauty.
Sunrises, sunsets--only a few moments and they’re gone. The glory of each season lasts a few months before becoming only a memory. Even our songs have both beginning and end. In our physical bodies, youth fades as time and gravity leave their mark, often in a most ungracious manner. I’ve found that after a certain age, the maintenance procedures increase markedly.
So, what beauty really lasts? From Isaiah 40:8: “The grass withers, and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” The beauty of God’s word transcends the temporal and stretches into eternity. It moves beyond sunsets, seasons, and songs with two verses and prepares us for a place where God himself will be our light as we worship Him in unending song.
I treasure the beauty God has given us to enjoy on this earth, but I believe we get only fleeting glimpses of the astounding beauty he’s prepared for believers.
That bike ride this morning really gave me a lot to think about.