Beautiful.

I realized recently that I have a special affection for songs that use the word beautiful. Doesn't matter the genre, everything from "Good Morning, Beautiful" by Steve Holy to "Beautiful Day by U2 to "Beautiful" by Plankeye ... if you run a search on Limewire for "Beautiful," you find a ton of songs that I love. They're songs that resonate with me, that give me that feeling in my chest, where I feel like I'm just going to well over with emotion.

It could be just a coincidence, but I think it's more than that. I think the word "beautiful" is a very deep word. I think it's something I aspire to, something I'm not always sure I have in my grasp, but something I have a deep-rooted desire to be.

Not just in the physical sense, although that's part of it. "Beautiful" is probably the best compliment Jesse could give me. Of all the things he could say to me or about me, it's the one that resonates the most. But it's more than a physical thing. It's everything that word embodies--something beyond "pretty" or "nice." It's a word that I think encompasses the good and the bad in life-- something can be beautiful, but sad. It can be beautiful, but frightening. Or beautiful and awful at the same time.

I read a book once, "Do You Think I'm Beautiful?" It was basically a women's version of "Wild at Heart," about the deepest desires of a woman's heart. And what it all came down to is that we want to be beautiful. God created us to desire that. Not in some shallow way, but in a very deep way-- that we want to know that others, but more importantly, that God believes we are beautiful. There's something about that word that speaks of something deeper than having a pretty face or nice hair. It's about a soul, even a spirit. It's about a depth of loveliness that can't be achieved in any earthly way.