You Are A Masterpiece

The True, the Good, and the Beautiful

The true, the good, and the beautiful are the classic transcendental trinity. For something to be genuinely beautiful it must possess innate goodness and truth. Beauty draws us to the good and the true, truth leads to the good and the beautiful. A well-lived life consists of all three in harmony.

A Dutch Master, A Genuine Master-piece

In 1995 we attended a popular exhibition of paintings by 17th Century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. We were struck by the light and shadow, color and perceived intimacy he infused into his paintings. Vermeer, an adult convert to Catholicism, portrayed religious truth both openly and subtly in his work. Like many, we were smitten by “Girl With a Pearl Earring.” In it a beautiful girl wearing a large earring and a blue turban looks over her shoulder at us with an ambiguous expression, lips slightly parted as if about to speak a word of greeting.

One can imagine the effort Vermeer put into this masterpiece to get the color, light and shadow, wardrobe, and her expression just right. It is a genuine masterpiece by a genuine Dutch master. Even so, this masterpiece and the artist were relatively little-known outside the Netherlands for decades. “Historians credit the 19th-century French critic Étienne-Joseph-Théophile-Thoré (under the pseudonym of William Bürger) for reassessing the artist’s work, which eventually led to Vermeer’s distinguished reputation. Even so, Girl with a Pearl Earring became one of Vermeer’s more famous pieces only around the turn of the 21st century, with the 1995 blockbuster exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the publication of the best-selling novel Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier in 1999.” ¹

A Divine Masterpiece

You are a masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that you should live in them.

Ephesians 2:10

How much poorer would the world be if this and other masterpieces had been left to rot and ruin? Consider that YOU are God’s masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10) and reflect on that question again. Great artists possess innate talent, but great art requires a practiced hand and daily cultivation of that talent. Great lives are the same. On what are you spending your time, money, and effort? What vices are you allowing? What virtues are you cultivating? Only by immersing yourself in the the true, the good, and the beautiful will you ever become the genuine masterpiece the Divine Master intended you to be.

¹ Zelazko, Alicja – “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” https://www.britannica.com/topic/Girl-with-a-Pearl-Earring-by-Vermeer