My “Why” for this Blog
My motivation begins with three words: Truth, Beauty and Goodness. What thrills me and fills me with energy is my pursuit for these three things. And I believe that stems from my desire for relationship with God, because He is the source of Truth, Beauty and Goodness. He is Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.
I believe that this world, when we look for it, contains truth, beauty, and goodness in abundance. And I think we have the capacity to find it when we train ourselves to look for it, to ponder it, and to allow it to lead us to contemplation of higher things, namely God Himself.
I do not have lofty words to describe truth, beauty, and goodness, but that is what I intend to write about. When I discover truth, I hope to soak in it so that I can then live by it. When I recognize beauty, I want to relish in its ability to reveal God. And when I encounter goodness, I want to pursue it so that I can model my life according to it. And I hope to write about these things when I encounter them, so I can share them with others. Maybe I’ll find them in literature. One day I may experience them in a song, or an experience of daily living. And the next, they may reveal themselves in Scripture or a movie I’m watching. Wherever I find it, I want to write about it. I want to celebrate it and share it.
Why the Title?
I have to thank St. Paul for this one. St. Paul, and the Holy Spirit. The truth is, I had no idea what to title my blog. And that posed a real problem, since I couldn’t actually start the blog until I had a way to identify it on the internet. But I knew what I wanted to write about. Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. I tried brainstorming keywords connected to these ideas. But the best I could come up with was the Latin translation of these three words: Veritas, Pulchritudo, Bonitas. It sounds mysterious. But that’s not what I was going for in naming my blog. I began racking my brain for a Scripture verse that seemed applicable. Then I remembered hearing countless times a verse in one of St. Paul’s epistles about pondering what is true, and pure, and good. So I looked it up, and I found Philippians 4:8:
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
St. Paul’s exhortation to the church in Philippi to ponder those things that are “worthy of praise,” cut to my heart. Because that is my goal with this blog. To ponder those things that are true, honorable, just, lovely and good, and to write and share them. I decided to use the phrase “whatever is lovely” to summarize that purpose, and lo and behold, I had found my blog name.
So that’s my why. That’s the purpose of this blog. I hope to ponder the true, good and beautiful with you, and in the meantime, to give as much glory to God as I possibly can. Thanks for joining me here.