“Are you warm, are you real, Mona Lisa” goes the old Nat King Cole ballad, “Or just a cold and lonely, lovely work of art?”

The song refers to a woman being like that classic painting, dubbed one of the best of human history, capturing the woman with the sly grin on her face, causing those who observe her to wonder what her secret may be.

Music, paintings, photographs, sculptures, architecture–all embodiments of beauty, expressions of the love for the lovely. And, while not necessary for a baseline existence, the presence of the beautiful add a quality to life that is intangible yet deeply satisfying.

Almost half a year away from our wedding, and I find myself missing the planning phase just because it was nice to have a “reason” to look at things that are pretty.

The beautiful, and our appreciation for it, is the product of our innate drive to create. But what is the most beautiful form that creativity can take? What medium most effectively communicates it?

Not all the beauty of art can bear comparison with the beauty of temper and character to be revealed in those who are Christ’s representatives. Prophets and Kings, 565.

The “adorning of the soul,” allowing that same Creator who made us in the first place to recreate our characters to properly emulate His is the most amazing masterpiece that anyone could have the privilege of viewing. But it’s not just something that we could potentially see–it’s something we could potentially be.

Be a masterpiece.