We’re getting a new boiler at St. Alban’s. One of the percs of my job is that I get to see some wonderful things happen; some more wonderful than others. Yesterday I happened into the work site and saw all the new copper pipe that had just been connected. It is so beautiful I couldn’t begin to describe it. So I took a picture.
It’s really beautiful; a work of art. And it makes me wonder why much of what we classify as art has no practical use at all. We often talk about the beauty of nature and the beauty of fine art, but not enough about the beauty of the industrial art of useful objects. We do not sufficiently appreciate the artistry in many of the utilitarian things in our lives. I often marvel at the straight lines of the bricks in the wall of a building.
Just look around you and be joyful in the beauty that craftsmen and industrial designers have created everywhere. And celebrate the impulse in us all to create beauty in what we do.
From ‘For Vocation in Daily Work. Almighty God…Deliver us in our various occupations from the service of self alone, that we may do the work you have given us to to in truth and beauty and for the common good…Amen.’
Ron Hicks, Parish Verger, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Washington DC, 29-March-2016.
The Daily Cup 
Yeah, Ron. I’ll say a big YES for Gene! He delighted especially in something beautifully made and also extremely utilitarian. Thanks for reminding us to be on the look-out for beauty all around us.
great article, wonderful reflection on the beauty we miss that is all about us.