Beautiful.

Wow, I feel as though I have no time to even sit down and think about all that I have been doing. It is crazy to think I have only been in Rome for one week.. feels more like a month! Yesterday we took a trip to the San Clemente church.. it was so amazing. It is a three level church and each level was built without the knowledge of the first level being there. You can really see the progression of society and life in each church as they are built on top of each other. It is hard to believe that things that old still exist. It is so easy to brush off history as something in the past. I learned about history my whole life and I always associated it with something lost. Something old. Something pointless. In all honesty I can say that (don't judge, I have sat through some pretty boring history classes). Being here in one week has opened my eyes to a world that not only was demolished, lost, and of the past. But, a world that is still standing and is beautiful. It is beautiful. It started to make me think about all of the newer modern buildings that are standing in America today. They are ugly. They get torn down within 5 years of the start of their existence. The beauty found in this place that I am living in, is one that is discovered but not defined. For crying out load, cities in America refuse to put a restaurant in town because their marketing colors don't "match" the rest of the surrounding buildings. What is beauty? Why is it defined by the eyes of high decision makers? Isn't beauty something philosophical? Something that is a possession of subjectivity? I live across the street from the Afghanistan embassy and there are at least 3 other embassies in the surrounding area. I was expecting to see just Italians here. I was wrong. Of course, Rome is touristy so there are cameras flashing at big historical sites in the hands of countries represented. However, the mixture of culture and language is a ringing sound in my ears as I am walking down streets of cobblestone and viewing buildings of marble. And I am convinced that I will not see a more beautiful site until I am in heaven. Isn't this what heaven will be like? When all the nations come together? Of course, there will be a common relationship with the living God verses standing in a line to see the Colosseum. Why is beauty on earth defined by the selfishness of this world and driven by a goal of wanting "more". Beauty is subjective. Beauty is culture. Beauty is not only the created nature, but the things made by man to reflect what God's creatures can really do.