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Beauty in Wartime

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” Thanks for reading crumbs from His table fellowship! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Philippians 4:8 NASB1995 To what end shall I celebrate beauty When every morning brings tales Of wars and rumors of wars, Storms, wrecks, cancers, sudden deaths, upheavals— When “things fall apart; (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...) The centre cannot hold” (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...) ? Is beauty then Not frivolous, unserious, Prodigal? Beauty persists in witness To the reign of my beautiful God. This groaning, tattered, blood-stained world, Tainted in all its parts and properties By sin and death, Still bears fingerprints of Glory, A hint of foretaste of new creation coming, A faded echo of the “It is good” Before the “Cursed is the ground Because of you.” Beauty persists in resistance, Not ignorance or denial, but A lamp lit to defy the dark, A cellist in Sarajevo’s rubble, A nightingale in a white night, A monarch for a memorial day, A refugee danseur pouring pain into pirouettes. Beauty persists like Frodo’s star-glass, A light when all other lights go out, A weapon in the fight for joy, A wordless declaration that sorrow and suffering Are not the final word, That serpent’s venom spent itself On Savior’s heel— Our adversary’s head now crushed— Resurrection coming, Unmaking soon to be remade. Beauty persists Because God made His poems Poets— Creations in Creator’s image, We cannot but create— Whether weapons of warfare And engines of destruction, Or pain composted into fruitful flourishing, And heartache mended with golden hope, Help, sustenance, and comfort In the conquering Lion-Lamb, Faithful and True. Beauty persists, A foretaste of good promises On their way to us And a testament of faith That they are true. It tastes and sees and says That the Lord, He is good. Beauty leans forward in hopeful expectation Of God’s faithfulness and steadfast love. He who is coming Will come and not delay! I celebrate beauty When every morning seems to bring fresh misery, Because every morning brings fresh mercies And unfailing love. Joy persists in flashes of morning sun On intricately woven web dazzling with dew. Spring persists in coming In the cruelest month; Blooms burst forth from winter’s grave And the time of the singing of birds will come. When things fall apart, God’s centrality yet holds. His prodigality of beauty, Lifting my eyes to the unseen, eternal things, Compels me, too, To the serious celebration of beauty. The sculptures depicted are the some of the work of Seward Johnson which were exhibited at the Dallas Arboretum for Dallas Blooms 2025. Thanks for reading crumbs from His table fellowship! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit crumbsfromhistable.substack.com (https://crumbsfromhistable.substack.c...)