gazing at beauty

So a couple months ago, Aric and I decided that we should see something beautiful and breathtaking once a week. It's a way to find perspective by taking attention off ourselves and squarely on something truly praiseworthy. Next to the vastness of the ocean, the golden glow of the San Gabriel Valley from the Colorado Bridge, and the vista of Los Angeles seen from the roof of the 1935 Griffith Observatory, our day-to-day struggles seem small and our efforts to keep our days spinning with our own ambitions almost silly.

As a teen, when I'd get overwhelmed with the drama that is high school, I'd find the highest point to climb in our small city. This wasn't hard considering that I lived in a desert. It ended up being the top of South Mountain near Mesa, Ariz. or a huge boulder on top of a hill near Arizona State University. Gazing at the world quietly glimmering below me, I found myself getting pulled into the bigness of life and out of what C.S. Lewis called the tyranny of an "incessant autobiography." It seems it's only when I am reminded of how small, insignificant yet precious I am to the One who created the world that I find rest in my restless mind.

So from time to time, I'll post photos of the beautiful things Aric and I make a point of gazing at every week. This week, it was the view from Griffith Observatory.