Dan Martin, Victoria Falls, Africa.
One of the joys I have in writing Glimsen is hearing from readers about their own experiences with beauty. Last year, I wrote several posts using your own words and photos about what you have seen and experienced that filled you with awe. I’ve collected more of these experiences from you since then, and today I’m sharing them with you.
Last month, I interviewed Dan Martin, a domestic and global health professional, about his love of nature photography, specifically of birds. (You can see his stunning photos and read that feature here.) When I asked if there’d been a particular time or place when Dan had been moved by beauty. he said, “Many times I have felt awe in the presence of natural wonders, but the place that most leaps to mind is Victoria Falls, on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border in southern Africa. I well remember sitting at the brink of those falls, listening to their thunderous roar while feeling the spray landing on my skin, and sensing that the sound itself was somehow cleansing.” (See his photo of the falls above.)
Similarly, for Karen Walker, a waterfall, with its accompanying rushing stream, filled her with awe. She and her family have loved visiting and camping Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado for many years. “The cold, rushing mountain streams are stopping places for us. I don’t feel that I have completely been there if I haven’t frozen my feet in one of them!"
One year, as they stood looking at Alberta Falls (which turned into a racing stream), Karen “was overwhelmed with the amount of water that ran over the top and the fact that it never stopped—no one was turning on a faucet in the morning and turning it off at night. It had been doing this 24/7 for thousands (if not millions) of years. And it will continue to do so for more thousands of years. It reminds me of God’s love—it just keeps on coming, just as powerful now as it was years ago.”
Ellen Messerschmidt, Matterhorn, Switzerland.
Ellen Messerschmidt and her husband are drawn to the beauty of Switzerland, where they travel every year. To say that they love it is an understatement. “[It’s] the most beautiful place on the planet by far and I’ve been [to] a lot of places. Even Charles Spurgeon said it was a lot like heaven.” They prefer to stay in Wengen, but a few years ago, they stayed in Zermatt instead, where they hiked for four days. I also visited Zermatt many years ago but don’t have any good photos of the Matterhorn, so I asked if she would share some of hers. She very kindly did.
Ellen Messerschmidt, Matterhorn, Switzerland.
Ann Mitchell says she’s been “stunned” by beauty so many times that it’s difficult for her to pick just one to describe. But she told me about a trip to California for her birthday in July 2014 when she and her husband spent two weeks traveling the state. “I had never been to Yosemite. As we drove upwards through somewhat desolate looking hills, it seemed as if we would never arrive. We rounded the bend into the perimeter of the park and the majesty displayed before us made me cry. After driving through dry desert-like land for hours, the colors displayed in that first view were overwhelming.”
Ann Mitchell, Yosemite National Park, 2014.
Several years ago, Ann Bruehl had an experience on an airplane that reminded her of a post I wrote about beauty and childlike wonder. She commented, “I do think it's possible to have childlike wonder as an adult; but those magical moments seem to catch us more rarely, don't they? An example that comes to mind for me [happened when] our family flew to Hawaii. I spent many hours literally in the clouds. As our plane began to descend and barely break through the clouds, a patch of land amidst a vast sea suddenly appeared through my window, seemingly out of nowhere! And from my vantage point in the clouds, I felt I was watching God's creation come to life just as HE experienced from his heavenly seat when he declared, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And just like that, ‘It was so.’
Ann Bruehl, Hawaii, taken from a plane window, 2015.
Julie Hand’s experience with beauty last year helped her through a difficult time. She writes, “I had had a rough time transitioning to a new job. However, the long hours gave me the gift of seeing incredible skies both early in the morning and then again on my way home in the evening. The hills and valleys on my commute allowed me to play peek-a-boo with the rising or setting sun. Sometimes I would round a curve in the road or crest a hill and let out an audible gasp at the picture of beauty the Creator painted for that moment.”
LeAnne Martin, Arches National Park, Utah. 2024
When my family and I vacationed in Utah, we went stargazing one night in Arches National Park. Before the stars came out, we enjoyed this stunning sunset, with the moon and Venus standing out from the orange sky. A short while later, when the stars and the Milky Way appeared, the scene above held me spellbound.
CoCo Tyre, a friend of mine who blogs at The Crowned Goat, tells of one night when she stayed up way past her bedtime “hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the last big meteor showers of the year.” She and several other family members and friends sat on her back patio “snuggled up under thick blankets, next to the fire pit, complete with peppermint hot cocoa in hand.”
Having grown up on the Space Coast of Florida and spending summers at her extended family’s farm, CoCo has seen many meteor showers through the years. “But there was something about this one that felt completely different. Maybe it was the anticipation of Christmas. The freezing cold or the stillness of the night. Perhaps it was because someone in our viewing party had never seen one falling star let alone an entire shower. Either way the excitement was palpable.”
And their patience was well-rewarded: in just 45 minutes, they saw between 26 and 28 shooting stars.
“Truly, it was awe inspiring because it’s the most any of us had ever seen at one time.”
Afterward, when she went to bed, CoCo “couldn’t stop thinking about how the sparkling stars were set to continue dancing over the house, given that the meteor shower was scheduled to last well into night. And how even though I could no longer see them, because I was all cozy in bed, the stars were still lighting up the night sky and putting on a show for all to enjoy.”
Indeed, beauty is there for us all to enjoy if we have the eyes and ears and hearts to experience it.
When is the last time you were awe-struck by beauty? If it’s been a while, what can you do to change that? Here are some ideas that you can put into practice today.
At Glimsen, I share glimpses of the beauty around us in nature, the arts, and the unexpected. Click the button below to get my posts delivered to your inbox once a week, and you'll also get a little printable gift of beauty just for signing up.
Photos of clouds courtesy of Arlind Photography on Unsplash.