God cares about the little things, and we should too. If we don’t, we live waiting for the next big thing, we miss God speaking in the little, so when the big thing comes, we wonder if it’s God because we don’t really know Him and, ultimately, we miss Him altogether.
In the absence of existence after death, to some death becomes an escape and to others a thief, yet it is lord over both. Both live in death’s shadow, bound to space by time, serving their purposes which are finite in nature. But “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty”, serving the purposes of Him who is infinite in nature.
The mystery of beauty is that it does not serve a purpose. It is important to note the distinction between our experience of beauty in a subject as opposed to desire for the subject itself, for example: I can see a person as beautiful to look at without desiring the person, in the same way that I admire a painting or flowers, listen to a song or taste food. The appreciation of a person’s beauty becomes perverse when we objectify them by reducing their identity to merely their beauty, making them something to be experienced and not someone to be known. Beauty does not increase our space or our time; it serves no purpose except that it is to be experienced. To experience beauty for beauty’s sake is to reject the finite nature of space and time - not of their existence but their control. When we experience beauty, we glimpse into eternity and feel a deep longing to be one with it; to experience it in its fullness. This becomes perverse when we attribute our experience of beauty in the object to the object itself. Beauty is not bound by the finite nature of space and time, and so to objectify beauty is to quantify eternity and miss it altogether. God chooses to express a measure of His glory in creation, but to worship creation as God is to blaspheme God and miss Him altogether. On the other hand, to be unaware of beauty experienced in the temporal is to be ignorant of eternity and to miss God altogether.
I would suggest that true beauty is eternity expressed in the little things; it is that which reveals the nature of God and should lead us to worship Him. It is important to note that not all that we label beautiful is truly so. We have a responsibility to discern truth and reject falsehoods, here and in every aspect of our lives.
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)
Discernment is perception with understanding. It is like seeing the world for the first time: initially, I perceive what is before me, without understanding what it is. The obvious things draw my attention. As I give my attention to them and seek to understand them, I begin to discern that the tree is not the building, and the building is not the person. As I grow in understanding and pay closer attention, new things become clear: the oak is not the poplar, the office is not the house, and the man is not the woman. As I grow in understanding and pay closer attention, I begin to discern nuance: confidence and arrogance, love and lust, wisdom and fear. My discernment grows because I am attentive and I seek understanding.
Just as I grow in discernment of the world around me by seeking understanding and being attentive, so I grow in discernment of the world within me. I am attentive to my mind, emotions, body and spirit, and, as I grow in understanding, my discernment deepens from obvious to nuanced.
I am attentive to my words, learning what it feels like to walk on the solid ground of speaking with understanding, and the shaky ground of speaking without. I am measured when I speak, attentive to the ground beneath my feet, that is, to speak when I know and refrain when I don’t.
As I grow in discernment of the world, people and self, so I grow in discernment of spiritual matters and, ultimately, of God: by paying attention.