My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth's loveliness.

- -Michelangelo Buonarroti, 16th Century

After agreeing to write this reflection and reading the passage, I thought, I can do this, this is right up my alley:  art and nature - no problem.  However the more I thought about the passage, the more it challenged me.  My first reaction was to write about Michelangelo and his contributions as a painter, sculptor, architect and poet.  I'm sure many people can identify with his quote when viewing his magnificent works of art as it leads us to a sacred place.  That however, is not the gist of Michelangelo's quote, this quote is not about him and his accomplishments but about God's beauty manifested in nature and "earth's loveliness."  Michelangelo is telling us that the sacred is all around us and if we take time to appreciate it, this can lead us closer to God.

When I think of this passage, I'm transported back in time to a particular ride home from an after school practice, I think I was around 12 years old.  It was the middle of winter in the early evening and my mom, (who is an artist) suddenly pulled to the side of the road and said, "look."  We sat there for some time and she proceeded to tell me what we were looking at. She pointed to the old oak trees in our neighborhood and told me to look beyond the trees at the changing colors of the sunset, watching the sky change from orange to purple then dark blue.  She went on to describe how background of the sunset emphasizes the black silhouettes of the trees.  It was a truly beautiful sight.  This moment seemed to stick with me because for the first time that I remember, I experienced a quiet wave of awe watching this sunset and I started paying more attention to what the world was showing me.