Beautiful

In the first chapter of Genesis, which tells a poetic story about God creating the world, each day has the same pattern. God speaks, and something new is created, and then God speaks again, to proclaim that whatever has just been created is good. That’s how I’ve always read the story, but this past week I learned something new in a radio interview with an Orthodox priest (a wonderful show called Speaking of Faith – hear it Sundays at 7 AM on WKSU 89.7 or you can get it as a podcast, like me). This priest, Vigen Guroian, said that the original Hebrew word “tov,” which we normally translated as “good,” also means “beautiful.” In this case, beautiful may be a better translation.

When God looked at creation and called it good, we shouldn’t view that as simply a moral proclamation. God wasn’t just saying that the creation is good, as opposed to being evil. God was also saying that the creation is beautiful. And because creation is beautiful, it instills us with love and wonder, and it inspires us to respond in creative ways.

Creation is beautiful! Now, for this to become real to us in our day to day lives, we need to make it more focused, more specific. Creation is too large to hold in your mind all the time. Instead try these: Your spouse is beautiful. Your parents are beautiful. Your friend is beautiful. The person who bags your groceries is beautiful.

The grass is beautiful. The tree on your left as you wait a red light is beautiful. The silence of the early morning is beautiful, and so is the darkness of a late night when you can’t fall asleep.

The church is beautiful. The words of scripture, the music, the gut-feeling you have to do something you are afraid of, and the stranger in front of you with a cough: they are all beautiful.

God saw all that had been created, and God said that it was good. Tov. Beautiful.