“The Dusty Shelf”
Beauty is draining
Down the industrial sink,
Lost between the bargain aisle
And the recycle bin
The throw-away society
Grabs the clearance fast
Only to exchange it
For the new and improved.
Beauty looses appeal
To market value,
It sits on the dusty back shelf,
Commercial gain takes the lead.
Who will lift beauty
From the shelf,
Brush away the dust
And look long enough
To admire its brilliancy?
“The Crown of Creation”
God is said to be beautiful,
His cosmos a delight to the eyes
And humanity
The crown of creation
Yet we throw people away
When their utility value diminishes:
Algorithm or bust.
What becomes of beauty
When the measure of life
Is what a person can produce?
The quest for beauty begins,
Gazing out the window
And watching aging branches
Clinging to green leaves.
Mark B. Jabusch, “The Quest for Beauty,” written on September 9, 2026
When a civilization values everything according to usefulness and exchange, eventually it will value humans the same way. Beauty matters because beauty teaches us that something can be worth contemplating, cherishing, and preserving without having to justify it by market value.
The Quest for Beauty provides a standard. Beauty is not merely what consumers want. The natural environment possesses goodness and beauty far beyond commercialization, while humans possess worth that does not rise and fall with the market.
Genesis 1:31 confirms that
“God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (ESV)
Psalm 27:4 highlights the beauty of God
One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.