Beauty

Ask most people, and they'll have a hard time supplying a definition for beauty. According to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, beauty is "a: extreme physical attractiveness and loveliness: perfect combination of characteristics pleasurable to see. b: a characteristic or combination of characteristics affording great sensory pleasure."
But come on. We know beauty is more than that. Here's my definition of beauty.

Beauty is the quality a person, object, animal, or place possesses of reflecting the nature of its Creator.

In other words, beauty is the sunset you just have to photograph.
Beauty is the look in a child's eyes when he hears "Daddy's home."
Beauty is a couple in love.
Beauty is the collective breath a choir takes before singing a chord.
Beauty is two friends talking for hours.
Beauty is waking up and hearing the birds singing.
Beauty is the hugs you share at a funeral.
Beauty is hoarfrost on the trees on a winter morning.
Beauty is laughing until your stomach hurts.
Beauty is the silence of a chapel during Eucharistic Adoration.
Beauty is the sound of creek water trickling past rocks.
Beauty is going to bed at night and waking up to a new day in the morning.

Beauty is any and every way the world around us reminds us Who made it.

(painting by Claude Monet)